new \DateTime() gives the same value for multiple requests - php

Question

I have used the following piece of code in some APIs to limit the request
sleep(1);
// date_value_from_db is taken from DB, question time as example
$date_value_from_db = '2022-12-31 11:18:00Z';
$lastCreatedAt = new DateTime($date_value_from_db);
$now = new \DateTime();
#echo $now->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$timeElapsedInSecs = $now->getTimestamp() - $lastCreatedAt->getTimestamp();
// Only execute if the time difference is more than 60 secs
if ($timeElapsedInSecs < 60) {
// throw Exception
}
// Proceed further
If you call this API in a loop, $now->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') returns the same value 3-4 times in a row, after that, it shows the correct current time. and so on. For example echo $now->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') in the above code looks like this:
2022-12-30 11:30:25
2022-12-30 11:30:25
2022-12-30 11:30:25
2022-12-30 11:31:32
2022-12-30 11:31:32
...
Also, the $timeElapsedInSecs value is also the same
Ideally, $now should give the current time for each call. But it's not happening.
Do you guys see any issues with the above code?

Answer 1

I created a file name testdt.php on my local system like this:
<?php
$now = new \DateTime();
echo $now->format('Y-m-d H:i:s')."\n";
When executing this script 100 time (I am on Windows) using:
for /L %f in (1,1,100) do #curl "http://localhost/test/testdt.php"
I do see the returned value change.
When you need more change, you should change 'Y-m-d H:i:s' to 'Y-m-d H:i:s.v', this will add milli-seconds