What is the php timestamp conversion method?

PHP Timestamp Conversion - How to Convert Timestamps to Specific Time

In web development, we usually involve the application of timestamps. A timestamp is a way for computers to store and process dates and times. It is an integer counting from the Unix timestamp (the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, 0:00:00). Timestamps are very convenient for computers to store and calculate time, but they are not readable by humans.
Therefore, in web development, we usually need to convert timestamps into specific time formats to better present them to users. PHP provides us with a series of time functions to achieve this conversion. This article will introduce how to convert PHP timestamp into specific time, including formatting date, time, week, month, etc.

1. Obtaining timestamp

Getting the current timestamp in PHP is very simple and can be obtained using the time() function. For example:

$date = time(); // 获取当前时间戳
echo $date; // 输出当前时间戳

The above code will output the current timestamp, for example: 1602258546.

You can also use the mktime() function to get the timestamp of a specified time. For example:

$date = mktime(0, 0, 0, 10, 10, 2020); // 获取指定时间的时间戳
echo $date; // 输出指定时间的时间戳

The above code will output 1602258546. This timestamp corresponds to 0:00:00 on October 10, 2020.

2. Convert timestamps to dates

We often need to convert timestamps into date format. PHP provides the date() function to achieve this function. Here is an example:

$date = time();
echo date('Y-m-d', $date); // 输出格式化的日期（年-月-日）

The above code will output a date similar to 2020-10-09.

The date() function accepts two parameters: format string and timestamp. The format string is a string that defines the output date format, and different placeholders can be used to meet different needs. Here are some common placeholders:

• Y: four-digit year
• y: two-digit year
• m: month ( 01 to 12)
• d: Day of the month (01 to 31)
• H: 24-hour hour (00 to 23)
• h: 12 Hourly number of hours (01 to 12)
• i: Number of minutes (00 to 59)
• s: Number of seconds (00 to 59)
• w: Day of the week Day (0 means Sunday, 1 means Monday, and so on)
• F: The full text form of the month (for example: January)
• M: The three-letter abbreviation of the month (Example: Jan)
• l: The full text form of the day of the week (Example: Sunday)
• D: The three-letter abbreviation of the week (Example: Sun)

In addition to these common placeholders, there are many other placeholders that can be used. You can check the PHP manual for more details.

3. Convert timestamp to time format

You can also convert timestamp to time format. Here is an example:

$date = time();
echo date('H:i:s', $date); // 输出格式化的时间（小时:分钟:秒）

The above code will output a time similar to 10:24:06.

4. Convert timestamps to days of the week

Sometimes, we need to convert timestamps to days of the week. You can use the date() function mentioned above to achieve this function:

$date = time();
echo date('l', $date); // 输出星期几的完整文本形式（例如：Sunday）

The above code will output a string similar to Sunday.

5. Convert timestamp to month

If you need to convert timestamp to month, you can use a similar method:

$date = time();
echo date('F', $date); // 输出月份的完整文本形式（例如：January）

The above code will output something similar to January String.

6. Date and time formatting

In practical applications, we usually need to format the complete date and time. For example, October 9, 2020 10:24:06 could be formatted something like 2020-10-09 10:24:06. The following is an example of formatting a timestamp into a complete datetime:

$date = time();
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $date); // 输出格式化的日期时间（年-月-日 小时:分钟:秒）

The above code will output a string similar to 2020-10-09 10:24:06.

Conclusion

It is very convenient to use PHP to convert timestamps into specific times. It is very important for both website users and developers. This article introduces various methods of converting timestamps into specific dates, times, days of the week, months, etc. Both beginners and experienced developers can easily apply these methods to format date time.

The above is the detailed content of What is the php timestamp conversion method?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!