PHP | strtotime() Function

The strtotime() function is a built-in function in PHP which is used to convert an English textual date-time description to a UNIX timestamp. The function accepts a string parameter in English which represents the description of date-time. For e.g., “now” refers to the current date in English date-time description. The function returns the time in seconds since the Unix Epoch. We can return the English textual date-time in date format using the date() function.

Syntax:

strtotime ($EnglishDateTime, $time_now)

Parameters: The function accepts two parameters as shown above and described below:

1. $EnglishDateTime – This parameter specifies the English textual date-time description, which represents the date or time to be returned. The function parses the string and returns us the time in seconds. The parameter is mandatory
2. $time_now This parameter specifies the timestamp used to calculate the returned value. It is an optional parameter.

Note: Since the time/date is not static, therefore the output will vary.

Below programs illustrate the strtotime() function.

Program 1: The below program demonstrates the strtotime()
function when the english text is “now”.

<?php
// PHP program to demonstrate the strtotime()
// function when the english text is "now"

// prints current time in second
// since now means current
echo strtotime("now"), "\n";

// prints the current time in date format
echo date("Y-m-d", strtotime("now"))."\n";
?>

Output:

1525378260
2018-05-03

Program 2: The below program demonstrates the strtotime()
function when the english text is a date.

<?php
// PHP program to demonstrate the strtotime()
// function when the english text is a date

// prints the converted english text in second
echo strtotime("12th february 2017"), "\n";

// prints the above time in date format
echo date("Y-m-d", strtotime("12th february 2017"))."\n";
?>

Output:

1486857600
2017-02-12

Program 3: The below program demonstrates the strtotime()
function when the english text corresponds to any day.

<?php
// PHP program to demonstrate the strtotime()
// function when the english text corresponds to any
// day

// prints the converted english text in second
echo strtotime("next sunday"), "\n";

// prints the above time in date format
echo date("Y-m-d", strtotime("next sunday"))."\n";
?>

Output:

1525564800
2018-05-06

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed specifically for web development. You can learn PHP from the ground up by following this PHP Tutorial and PHP Examples.