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DateTimeImmutable::__construct

date_create_immutable

(PHP 5 >= 5.5.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

DateTimeImmutable::__construct -- date_create_immutable — Returns new DateTimeImmutable object

Description

Object-oriented style

public DateTimeImmutable::__construct(string $datetime = "now", ?DateTimeZone $timezone = null)

Procedural style

date_create_immutable(string $datetime = "now", ?DateTimeZone $timezone = null): DateTimeImmutable|false

Returns new a DateTimeImmutable object.

Parameters

datetime

A date/time string. Valid formats are explained in Date and Time Formats.

Enter "now" here to obtain the current time when using the $timezone parameter.

timezone

A DateTimeZone object representing the timezone of $datetime.

If $timezone is omitted or null, the current timezone will be used.

Note:
The $timezone parameter and the current timezone are ignored when the $datetime parameter either is a UNIX timestamp (e.g. @946684800) or specifies a timezone (e.g. 2010-01-28T15:00:00+02:00, or 2010-07-05T06:00:00Z).

Return Values

Returns a new DateTimeImmutable instance.

Errors/Exceptions

If an invalid Date/Time string is passed, DateMalformedStringException is thrown. Previous to PHP 8.3, this was Exception.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.3.0	Now throws DateMalformedStringException if an invalid string is passed, instead of Exception.
7.1.0	From now on microseconds are filled with actual value. Not with '00000'.

Examples

Example #1 DateTimeImmutable::__construct() example

Object-oriented style

<?php
try {
    $date = new DateTimeImmutable('2000-01-01');
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    exit(1);
}

echo $date->format('Y-m-d');
?>

Procedural style

<?php
$date = date_create('2000-01-01');
if (!$date) {
    $e = date_get_last_errors();
    foreach ($e['errors'] as $error) {
        echo "$error\n";
    }
    exit(1);
}

echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d');
?>

The above examples will output:

2000-01-01

Example #2 Intricacies of DateTimeImmutable::__construct()

<?php
// Specified date/time in your computer's time zone.
$date = new DateTimeImmutable('2000-01-01');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Specified date/time in the specified time zone.
$date = new DateTimeImmutable('2000-01-01', new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Current date/time in your computer's time zone.
$date = new DateTimeImmutable();
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Current date/time in the specified time zone.
$date = new DateTimeImmutable('now', new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Using a UNIX timestamp.  Notice the result is in the UTC time zone.
$date = new DateTimeImmutable('@946684800');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

// Non-existent values roll over.
$date = new DateTimeImmutable('2000-02-30');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

2000-01-01 00:00:00-05:00
2000-01-01 00:00:00+12:00
2010-04-24 10:24:16-04:00
2010-04-25 02:24:16+12:00
2000-01-01 00:00:00+00:00
2000-03-01 00:00:00-05:00

Example #3 Changing the associated timezone

<?php
$timeZone = new \DateTimeZone('Asia/Tokyo');

$time = new \DateTimeImmutable();
$time = $time->setTimezone($timeZone);

echo $time->format('Y/m/d H:i:s'), "\n";
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

2022/08/12 23:49:23

Example #4 Using a relative date/time string

<?php
$time = new \DateTimeImmutable("-1 year");

echo $time->format('Y/m/d H:i:s'), "\n";
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

2021/08/12 15:43:51

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User Contributed Notes 1 note

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Dmitrii ¶

1 year ago


"If $timezone is omitted or null, the current timezone will be used." - note, that timezone IS NOT equal offset, if its important for your application.

If default timezone = Europe/Moscow, then:
echo (new \DateTimeImmutable('2014-10'))->format(DATE_ATOM); // gives "2014-10-01T00:00:00+04:00"
echo (new \DateTimeImmutable('2014-11'))->format(DATE_ATOM); // gives "2014-11-01T00:00:00+03:00"
because of law changes (abolition of "summer time").

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