How to convert time format to timestamp using php? Two methods are introduced

PHP is a widely used server-side programming language for developing web applications. In web applications, it is often necessary to display or calculate time in different formats, and PHP provides powerful time processing functions, making time processing very easy. In this article, we will explain how to convert PHP time format to timestamp.

A timestamp is a number that represents a date and time, usually the number of seconds since a fixed date (such as January 1, 1970). Timestamps are useful for calculating time differences, storing dates and times, etc. PHP provides two functions to convert dates and times into timestamps, namely strtotime() and mktime().

1. strtotime() function

The strtotime() function converts a string representing time into a timestamp. It accepts a string parameter and returns the corresponding timestamp. Here is an example:

$dateString = '2022-01-01 12:00:00';
$timestamp = strtotime($dateString);
echo $timestamp;

The output will be 1662091200, which represents the timestamp of 12:00:00 on January 1, 2022. If you want to convert the current time to a timestamp, you can omit the string parameter:

$timestamp = strtotime();
echo $timestamp;

2. mktime() function

mktime() function Converts the specified time to a timestamp. It accepts one or more integer arguments representing the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. Here is an example:

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

The output will be 1640995200, which represents the timestamp of 0:00:00 on January 1, 2022. If you want to convert the current time to a timestamp, you can omit all parameters:

$timestamp = mktime();
echo $timestamp;

It should be noted that the date format in PHP is very flexible, so strtotime() and mktime() can handle various date and time strings and convert them to timestamps. For example, the following date strings are valid:

$dateString1 = '2022/01/01 12:00:00';
$dateString2 = '1 day ago';
$dateString3 = '+1 week 2 days 4 hours 2 seconds';

Calling the strtotime() function using these strings as parameters will return the corresponding timestamp.

Summary

In PHP, it is very easy and very useful to convert time strings in various formats into timestamps. By mastering the strtotime() and mktime() functions, you can easily convert time formats and perform various time calculations and processing in web applications.

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