localtime

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

localtimeGet the local time

Description

localtime(?int $timestamp = null, bool $associative = false): array

The localtime() function returns an array identical to that of the structure returned by the C function call.

Parameters

timestamp

The optional timestamp parameter is an int Unix timestamp that defaults to the current local time if timestamp is omitted or null. In other words, it defaults to the value of time().

associative

Determines whether the function should return a regular, numerically indexed array, or an associative one.

Return Values

If associative is set to false or not supplied then the array is returned as a regular, numerically indexed array. If associative is set to true then localtime() returns an associative array containing the elements of the structure returned by the C function call to localtime. The keys of the associative array are as follows:

  • "tm_sec" - seconds, 0 to 59
  • "tm_min" - minutes, 0 to 59
  • "tm_hour" - hours, 0 to 23
  • "tm_mday" - day of the month, 1 to 31
  • "tm_mon" - month of the year, 0 (Jan) to 11 (Dec)
  • "tm_year" - years since 1900
  • "tm_wday" - day of the week, 0 (Sun) to 6 (Sat)
  • "tm_yday" - day of the year, 0 to 365
  • "tm_isdst" - is daylight savings time in effect? Positive if yes, 0 if not, negative if unknown.

Errors/Exceptions

Every call to a date/time function will generate a E_WARNING if the time zone is not valid. See also date_default_timezone_set()

Changelog

Version Description
8.0.0 timestamp is nullable now.

Examples

Example #1 localtime() example

<?php
$localtime
= localtime();
$localtime_assoc = localtime(time(), true);
print_r($localtime);
print_r($localtime_assoc);
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

Array
(
    [0] => 24
    [1] => 3
    [2] => 19
    [3] => 3
    [4] => 3
    [5] => 105
    [6] => 0
    [7] => 92
    [8] => 1
)

Array
(
    [tm_sec] => 24
    [tm_min] => 3
    [tm_hour] => 19
    [tm_mday] => 3
    [tm_mon] => 3
    [tm_year] => 105
    [tm_wday] => 0
    [tm_yday] => 92
    [tm_isdst] => 1
)

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 9 notes

up
7
tony at speedscript dot com
20 years ago
Date select box for the current week, or whatever week you give for an offset (in seconds), returns the string you can echo with the select box named $name:

<?php
function week_date_selectbox( $time_offset, $name )
    {
    if( isset(
$time_offset ) )
       
$t = time() + $time_offset;
    else
       
$t = time();

   
$wday = array("Sun ","Mon ","Tue ","Wed ","Thu ","Fri ","Sat ");
   
$mon = array("Jan ","Feb ","Mar ","Apr ","May ","Jun ","Jul ","Aug ","Sep ","Oct ","Nov ","Dec ");
   
$mybox = "<select name=\"$name\">\n";
    for(
$ii = 0; $ii > -6; $ii--)
        {
       
$tarr = localtime( $t + $ii * 86400, 1 );
        if(
$tarr["tm_wday"] == 0 )
            {
           
// found Sunday, now make the week's strings
           
for($jj = 0; $jj < 7; $jj++)
                {
               
$tarr = localtime( $t + ($jj + $ii) * 86400, 1 );
               
$mybox .= sprintf( " <option value=\"%04d-%02d-%02d\">%s%s%d %d</option>\n",
                        ((int)
$tarr["tm_year"] + 1900),
                       
$tarr["tm_mon"],
                        ((int)
$tarr["tm_mday"] + 1),
                       
$wday[$tarr["tm_wday"]],
                       
$mon[$tarr["tm_mon"]],
                        (int)
$tarr["tm_mday"],
                        ((int)
$tarr["tm_year"] + 1900) );
                }
            break;
            }
        }
   
$mybox .= "</select>\n";

    return
$mybox;
    }
?>
up
0
verdy_p at wanadoo dot fr
23 years ago
The corresponding function call to get the GMT time is not specified here. Only local time is reported, according to the current TZ environment setting.
One could try to use putenv() to set another timezone temporarily, however when running PHP in safe mode, putenv() is disabled and cannot be used in scripts.
However it's possible to simulate gmttime() by using localtime() and by transforming the results in the returned array.
The biggest problem with this function is that it is using an OS-dependent and localtime() function which is also depending on the standard C library implementation (some of them, do not support accurate locales). The second problem is that localtime() does not return an index specifying the local timezone offset, so transforming this date to UTC will become very ugly. Some systems support the gmtime() C function call, some don't. To get the timezone, some C libraries provide a global _timezone variable, some provide it as a macro that use a function call, some do not provide any variable, and one must deduce it by interpreting the TZ environment. This is too much ugly for PHP.

PHP should be extended by adding support to gmttime() with the same parameters, but the returned array should include additional indices to store the timezone offsets in seconds and names for both standard time and DST, for example:
[tz_offset_std] = 3600,
[tz_offset_dst]= 7200,
[tz_name_std] = 'CET', (GMT+01:00)
[tz_name_dst] = 'CEDT'. (GMT+02:00)
Or for the international, locale-independant, Zulu time (also known as UCT or simply UT), returned by gmtime():
[tz_offset] = 0,
[tz_offset_dst]= 0,
[tz_name] = 'Z',
[tz_name_dst] = 'Z'.

But it's much easier to use PHP's date() and gmdate() to make such transformations.

Beware of DST rules! In the southern hemisphere, standard time still occurs during winter, but the southern Winter is in June, not in December ! Use the tm_isdst indicator to know which timezone to display or interpret !
up
-1
mimmux
10 years ago
its something strange on locatime function, if i test this function with zero parameter

print_r(localtime(0));

it returns this
Array
(
    [0] => 0
    [1] => 0
    [2] => 1   <-----
    [3] => 1
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 70
    [6] => 4
    [7] => 0
    [8] => 0
)
that is not the unix epoc but one hour after, it should be
Array
(
    [0] => 0
    [1] => 0
    [2] => 0   <-----
    [3] => 1
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 70
    [6] => 4
    [7] => 0
    [8] => 0
)
up
-2
arch at archtech dot yi dot org
22 years ago
You can implement gmtime quote simply.

<?php
function GetTZOffset() {
 
$Offset = date("O", 0);
  
 
$Parity = $Offset < 0 ? -1 : 1;
 
$Offset = $Parity * $Offset;
 
$Offset = ($Offset - ($Offset % 100))/100*60 + $Offset % 100;

  return
$Parity * $Offset;
}

$TZOffset = GetTZOffset();

$t_time = time()-$TZOffset*60; #Counter adjust for localtime()
$t_arr = localtime($t_time);
?>
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-4
anomie at users dot sourceforge dot net
18 years ago
Here is another version of gmtime(). This one doesn't involve messing around with timezones at all. Note that PHP4 users should check out the array_combine page for replacements for that function.

<?php
function gmtime($ts=null, $is_associative=false){
    if(
is_null($ts)) $ts=time();
   
$t=array_map('intval',explode(',',gmdate('s,i,H,d,m,Y,w,z,I',$ts)));
   
$t[4]--;
   
$t[5]-=1900;
    if(!
$is_associative) return $t;
    return
array_combine(array('tm_sec','tm_min','tm_hour','tm_mday','tm_mon',
                                
'tm_year','tm_wday','tm_yday','tm_isdst'),
                      
$t);
}
?>
up
-5
jausions-N at SPAM-hotmail dot com
22 years ago
I strongly suggest to do all of your developments using GMT/UTC dates & times.

I provide here a version of a 'gmttime' function. Save it in a separate file and include it when needed.

Please post a correction here if you find it not working for your timezone (with or without daylight saving time.).

Thanks & Enjoy.
-----------------------------------------------

<?php
//
// File: gmttime.php
//
// Description:
//    Implements the gmttime function if missing from the PHP distribution
//

// Verifies that the function isn't already implemented
if (function_exists(gmttime))
    return;

//
// Function: gmttime
//
// Description:
//   Returns an array indexed as by the localtime() function:
//   - 0 or tm_sec: Seconds
//   - 1 or tm_min: Minutes
//   - 2 or tm_hour: Hour
//   - 3 or tm_mday: Day of the month
//   - 4 or tm_mon: Month of the year
//   - 5 or tm_year: Years since 1900
//   - 6 or tm_wday: Day of the week
//   - 7 or tm_yday: Day of the year
//   - 8 or tm_isdst: Is daylight saving time in effect
//   - tm_fyear: Full year (only available with associative array)
//
// Arguments:
//   - Timestamp
//   - Boolean (for associative indexing: 0 = off, 1 = on)
//
// Returns:
//   An array on success,
//   false on failure.
//
function gmttime($dTimestamp = '', $bAssoc = 0) {
   
// Evaluate how much difference there is between local and GTM/UTC
    // Don't forget to correct for daylight saving time...
   
$aNow = localtime();
   
$iDelta = gmmktime(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1970, $aNow[8]) - mktime(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1970, $aNow[8]);

    if (!
$bAssoc) {
        if (
$dTimestamp == '') {
            return
localtime(time() - $iDelta, 0);
        } else {
            return
localtime($dTimestamp - $iDelta, 0);
        }
    } else {
       
// For associative array, add full year index
       
if ($dTimestamp == '') {
           
$aGMTTime = localtime(time() - $iDelta, 1);
        } else {
           
$aGMTTime = localtime($dTimestamp - $iDelta, 1);
        }
       
$aGMTTime['tm_fyear'] = $aGMTTime['tm_year'] + 1900;
        return
$aGMTTime;
    }
// End [IF] return associative array?
} // End [FUNCTION] gmttime
?>
up
-8
Chris
13 years ago
Sometimes, there's not a server-based/PHP method for getting local time. You have to get it from the client via Javascript.  Google "bitbucket timezone detect" and use it to set a "local_timezone" cookie that you can read from PHP and set via date_default_timezone_set()
up
-8
bens_nospam at benjamindsmith dot com
22 years ago
You must keep in mind the difference between your server's time and your client's time!

I ran into this one when I wrote a calendar-based reminder system with SMS messaging - guys back east were always getting their messages late. (!?!)

I wrote two functions as wrappers for date handling, ServerTime() and ClientTime() that take client time (integer timestamp) and translate to server time and vice-versa based on config file settings.

Needless to say, you CANNOT FORGET THIS.
up
-15
test at test dot de
23 years ago
to set up berlin time it could look like this:

<?php
   
print "<HTML><body><pre>";
   
   
setlocale( "LC_ALL", "de_DE" );
   
   
putenv( "PHP_TZ=Europe/Berlin" );
   
   
$now = time();
   
   
print_r( localtime(time(),true) );
   
print_r( getdate() );
   
    print
date("H:i:s");
    print
date("T");
   
?>
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