PHP | strtotime() Function

31 Jul, 2021
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:
$EnglishDateTime – This parameter specifies the English textual date-time description, which represents the date or time to be returned. The function parses the string and returns us the time in seconds. The parameter is mandatory$time_now This parameter specifies the timestamp used to calculate the returned value. It is an optional parameter.
$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
$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.
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