Easily convert date to timestamp using PHP

In PHP, converting date to timestamp is a common task. The timestamp is an integer representing the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00. If you need to use timestamps when writing PHP scripts, you can use PHP's built-in time functions to easily convert dates to timestamps.

In this article, we will explore how to convert date to timestamp in PHP. We'll discuss a few different methods and techniques so you know how to use these tools to complete your tasks.

1. Use the strtotime function

The strtotime function in PHP can convert a string date into a timestamp. This function takes a human-readable date string as a parameter and returns that date as a timestamp. Here is an example:

$timestamp = strtotime('2022-01-01 00:00:00');

This will return a timestamp representing 00:00:00 on January 1, 2022. You can use this function to convert a date string in any format to a timestamp.

2. Using the DateTime Class

The DateTime class in PHP can help you handle dates and times easily. This class provides a number of useful methods that can be used to convert dates to timestamps. Here is an example:

$date = new DateTime('2022-01-01');
$timestamp = $date->format('U');

In this example, we first create a DateTime object that represents the date of January 1, 2022. We then use the format method to format that date into a timestamp and assign it to the $timestamp variable.

3. Using the mktime function

The mktime function in PHP can help you convert date and time into a timestamp. The function requires some parameters to specify the date and time. Here is an example:

$timestamp = mktime(0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2022);

In this example, we specify the date and time as 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds, representing January 1, 2022. We then use the mktime function to convert that date into a timestamp.

4. Using the date_parse function

The date_parse function in PHP can parse a date string into an array with a lot of useful information. The array contains the year, month, day, hour, minute, second and other information of the date. Here is an example:

$dateStr = '2022-01-01 00:00:00';
$dateArray = date_parse($dateStr);
$timestamp = mktime(
    $dateArray['hour'],
    $dateArray['minute'],
    $dateArray['second'],
    $dateArray['month'],
    $dateArray['day'],
    $dateArray['year']
);

In this example, we first use the date_parse function to parse the $dateStr string into an array that contains useful date information. We then use the mktime function to convert this array into timestamps.

Summary

In this article, we introduced four methods to convert date to timestamp in PHP. No matter which method you choose to handle dates, you should first check the input data to make sure they are correct. Also, keep in mind that in most cases, you can easily handle dates and times in PHP.

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