date function in PHP - applies timezone? [duplicate] - php

Question

Can anyone suggest an easy method to convert date and time to different timezones in php?

Answer 1

You can use the datetime object or their function aliases for this:
Example (abridged from PHP Manual)
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London');
$datetime = new DateTime('2008-08-03 12:35:23');
echo $datetime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') . "\n";
$la_time = new DateTimeZone('America/Los_Angeles');
$datetime->setTimezone($la_time);
echo $datetime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
Edit regarding comments
but i cannt use this method because i need to show date in different time zones as the user login from different locations
That's not a problem. When a user logs in, you determine his timezone and set it to your DateTime object just like shown. I'm using a similar approach in one of my projects and it works like a charm.
in the database i need to get the dates in any single timezone, then only it can be processed properly
You store the time either as a timestamp or a datetime in one timezone. When you query a DateTime field, you either convert the time in a DateTime object to this timezone or - if your db supports it - query with the selected timezone.

Answer 2

An even simpler method looks like this:
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London'); // your user's timezone
$my_datetime='2013-10-23 15:47:10';
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s',strtotime("$my_datetime UTC"));
As described in the PHP manual, strtotime() accepts a timezone too, you just have to append it to your datetime.
I recommend you to store all your datetimes in UTC because that way you won't have problems with the daylight savings.

Answer 3

This worked for me and it's pretty clean too!
function convert_to_user_date($date, $format = 'n/j/Y g:i A', $userTimeZone = 'America/Los_Angeles', $serverTimeZone = 'UTC')
{
try {
$dateTime = new DateTime ($date, new DateTimeZone($serverTimeZone));
$dateTime->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone($userTimeZone));
return $dateTime->format($format);
} catch (Exception $e) {
return '';
}
}
function convert_to_server_date($date, $format = 'n/j/Y g:i A', $userTimeZone = 'America/Los_Angeles', $serverTimeZone = 'UTC')
{
try {
$dateTime = new DateTime ($date, new DateTimeZone($userTimeZone));
$dateTime->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone($serverTimeZone));
return $dateTime->format($format);
} catch (Exception $e) {
return '';
}
}
//example usage
$serverDate = $userDate = '2014-09-04 22:37:22';
echo convert_to_user_date($serverDate);
echo convert_to_server_date($userDate);

Answer 4

None of these answers worked for me (I skipped trying code that was overly bulky in size). I also think it's weird to change the default timezone just for a single conversion.
Here is my solution:
function changeTimeZone($dateString, $timeZoneSource = null, $timeZoneTarget = null)
{
if (empty($timeZoneSource)) {
$timeZoneSource = date_default_timezone_get();
}
if (empty($timeZoneTarget)) {
$timeZoneTarget = date_default_timezone_get();
}
$dt = new DateTime($dateString, new DateTimeZone($timeZoneSource));
$dt->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone($timeZoneTarget));
return $dt->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");
}
So, to convert to the server default, you would just pass one timezone:
changeTimeZone("2016-10-24 16:28", "Asia/Tokyo");
To convert from the server default to the user, you would leave the 2nd parameter null or blank:
changeTimeZone("2016-10-24 16:28", "", "Asia/Tokyo");
And to switch between 2 timezones unrelated to the default, you would provide 2 timezones:
changeTimeZone("2016-10-24 16:28", "America/New_York", "Asia/Tokyo");

Answer 5

UTC to local:
<?php
$datetime = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
$utc = new DateTime($datetime, new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
$utc->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/Sao_Paulo'));
echo $utc->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
?>

Answer 6

DateTime::setTimezone -- date_timezone_set — Sets the time zone for the DateTime object
Object oriented style
<?php
$date = new DateTime('2000-01-01', new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
$date->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Chatham'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
?>
Procedural style
<?php
$date = date_create('2000-01-01', timezone_open('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
date_timezone_set($date, timezone_open('Pacific/Chatham'));
echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
?>
The above examples will output:
2000-01-01 00:00:00+12:00
2000-01-01 01:45:00+13:45

Answer 7

// Convert date from one zone to another..
/*
$zone_from='Asia/Kolkata';
$zone_to='America/Phoenix';
date_default_timezone_set($zone_from);
$convert_date="2016-02-26 10:35:00";
echo $finalDate=zone_conversion_date($convert_date, $zone_from, $zone_to);
*/
function zone_conversion_date($time, $cur_zone, $req_zone)
{
date_default_timezone_set("GMT");
$gmt = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
date_default_timezone_set($cur_zone);
$local = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
date_default_timezone_set($req_zone);
$required = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
/* return $required; */
$diff1 = (strtotime($gmt) - strtotime($local));
$diff2 = (strtotime($required) - strtotime($gmt));
$date = new DateTime($time);
$date->modify("+$diff1 seconds");
$date->modify("+$diff2 seconds");
return $timestamp = $date->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");
}

Answer 8

<?php
$time='6:02';
$dt = new DateTime($time, new DateTimeZone('America/New_York'));
//echo $dt->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') . PHP_EOL;
$dt->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('Asia/Kolkata'));
echo $dt->format('H:i') . PHP_EOL;
?>

Answer 9

Try this:
function convertDate($dt, $timeZone) {
$UTC = new DateTimeZone("UTC");
$date= date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime($dt));
$dateConv = new DateTime( $dt, $UTC );
$dateFormat ='m/d/Y h:i A';
$date->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone($timeZone));
return $date->format($dateFormat);
}