NOW() function in PHP

Question

Is there a PHP function that returns the date and time in the same format as the MySQL function NOW()?

I know how to do it using date(), but I am asking if there is a function only for this.

For example, to return:

2009-12-01 00:00:00

Answer 1

Short answer

$now = date_create()->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

Read below for the long answer.

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The mimicry of the MySQL NOW() function in PHP

Here is a list of ways in PHP that mimic the MySQL NOW() function.

// relative date
$now = date_create('now')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // works in php 5.2 and higher  
$now = date_create()->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // also works in php 5.2
$now = new DateTime('now')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // syntax error!!!
$now = (new DateTime('now'))->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // works in php 5.4 and higher   
$now = date('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // works as well, but it's less nice then date_create()

// From Unix timestamp
// Using date_create() with a Unix timestamp will give you a FALSE,  
// and if you try to invoke format() on a FALSE then you'll get a: 
//     Fatal error: Call to a member function format() on boolean 
// So if you work with Unix timestamps then you could use: date_create_from_format().
$unixTimeStamp = 1420070400; // 01/01/2015 00:00:00
$y2015 = date_create_from_format('U', $unixTimeStamp, timezone_open('Europe/Amsterdam'))->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$y2015 = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $unixTimeStamp);

I think that date_create()->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') is the best way because this approach allows you to handle time/time-zone manipulations easier than date('Y-m-d H:i:s') and it works since php 5.2.

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MySQL NOW() function

The MySQL function NOW() gives the dateTime value in this format: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'. See here: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/date-and-time-functions.html#function_now.

An interesting fact is that it's possible to get the datetime format by running this query: SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'd%e_format', the result could be something like this:

Variable_name     Value     
date_format       %Y-%m-%d
datetime_format   %Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s

The variables up here are read-only variables. So you can't change it.

I guess the MySQL NOW() function gets it's format from the datetime_format variable.

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date_create()->format() VS date()

The favorable facts of date_create('now')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') over date('Y-m-d H:i:s') are:

• easier to handle time manipulations
• easier to handle timezones
• o.o.p.

easier to handle time manipulations

date_create() accepts a relative date/time format (like now, yesterday or +1 day) see this link, example:

$tomorrow = date_create('+1 day')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); 

date() accepts a relative date/time format as well, like this:

$tomorrow = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('+1 day'));
$tomorrow = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', (time() + 86400)); // 86400 seconds = 1 day

easier to handle timezones

When timezones matter then the usage of date_create()->format() makes a lot more sense then date() because date() uses the default time zone which is configured in php.ini at the date.timezone directive. Link: http://php.net/manual/en/datetime.configuration.php#ini.date.timezone .

It is possible to change the timezone during run-time. Example:

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Tokyo');.

The downside of that is that it will affect all date/time functions. This problem doesn't exists if you are using date_create()->format() in combination with timezone_open().

PHP supports major timezones. The funny thing is that it even supports the Arctic circle, and Antarctica. Have you ever heard about Longyearbyen? If not, then don't worry, neither did I until I read the official PHP documentation.

$nowLongyearbyen = date_create('now', timezone_open('Arctic/Longyearbyen'))->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

See a list of all supported timezones: http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php.

o.o.p.

O.O.P. uses state-full Objects. So I prefer to think in this way:

// Create a DateTime Object. 
// Use the DateTime that applies for tomorrow.
// Give me the datetime in format 'Y-m-d H:i:s'
$tomorrow = date_create('+1 day')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); 

Then to think in this way:

// Give me a date time string in format 'Y-m-d H:i:s', 
// use strtotime() to calculate the Unix timestamp that applies for tomorrow.
$tomorrow = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('+1 day'));

Therefore I would say that the date_create()->format() approach is more readable to me then date().

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date_create() VS new DateTime()

The favorable facts of date_create() over new DateTime() are:

• Namespaces

Namespaces

If you work in a namespace and want to initialise a DateTime object with the new keyword, then you have to do it like this:

namespace my_namespace;

// The backslash must be used if you are in a namespace.
// Forgetting about the backslash results in a fatal error.
$dt = new \DateTime();

There is nothing wrong with this, but the downside of the above is that people forget sporadically about the backslash. By using the date_create() constructor function you don't have to worry about namespaces.

$dt = date_create(); // in or not in a namespace it works in both situations

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Example of date_create()->format()

I use this approach for my projects if I have to fill an array. Like this:

$array = array(
    'name' => 'John',
    'date_time' => date_create('now')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'), // uses the default timezone
    'date_time_japan' => date_create('now', timezone_open('Asia/Tokyo'))->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
);

Answer 2

There is no built-in PHP now() function, but you can do it using date().

Example

function now() {
    return date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
}

You can use date_default_timezone_set() if you need to change timezone.

Otherwise you can make use of Carbon - A simple PHP API extension for DateTime.

Answer 3

You can use simplePHP class to do this:

echo $date->now();

This class also provides many useful methods for date addition, subtraction and comparison. You can check the tutorials page for more examples.

Answer 4

The PHP equivalent is time(): http://php.net/manual/en/function.time.php

Answer 5

I was looking for the same answer, and I have come up with this solution for PHP 5.3 or later:

$dtz = new DateTimeZone("Europe/Madrid"); //Your timezone
$now = new DateTime(date("Y-m-d"), $dtz);
echo $now->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");

Answer 6

I like the solution posted by user1786647, and I've updated it a little to change the timezone to a function argument and add optional support for passing either a Unix time or datetime string to use for the returned datestamp.

It also includes a fallback for "setTimestamp" for users running version lower than PHP 5.3:

function DateStamp($strDateTime = null, $strTimeZone = "Europe/London") {
    $objTimeZone = new DateTimeZone($strTimeZone);

    $objDateTime = new DateTime();
    $objDateTime->setTimezone($objTimeZone);

    if (!empty($strDateTime)) {
        $fltUnixTime = (is_string($strDateTime)) ? strtotime($strDateTime) : $strDateTime;

        if (method_exists($objDateTime, "setTimestamp")) {
            $objDateTime->setTimestamp($fltUnixTime);
        }
        else {
            $arrDate = getdate($fltUnixTime);
            $objDateTime->setDate($arrDate['year'], $arrDate['mon'], $arrDate['mday']);
            $objDateTime->setTime($arrDate['hours'], $arrDate['minutes'], $arrDate['seconds']);
        }
    }
    return $objDateTime->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");
}