Generating a drop down list of timezones with PHP

Question

Most sites need some way to show the dates on the site in the users preferred timezone. Below are two lists that I found and then one method using the built in PHP DateTime class in PHP 5.

I need help knowing which of these would be the best to attempt to use when trying to get the UTC offset from the user on register.

One:

<option value="-12">[UTC - 12] Baker Island Time</option>
<option value="-11">[UTC - 11] Niue Time, Samoa Standard Time</option>
<option value="-10">[UTC - 10] Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, Cook Island Time</option>
<option value="-9.5">[UTC - 9:30] Marquesas Islands Time</option>
<option value="-9">[UTC - 9] Alaska Standard Time, Gambier Island Time</option>
<option value="-8">[UTC - 8] Pacific Standard Time</option>
<option value="-7">[UTC - 7] Mountain Standard Time</option>
<option value="-6">[UTC - 6] Central Standard Time</option>
<option value="-5">[UTC - 5] Eastern Standard Time</option>
<option value="-4.5">[UTC - 4:30] Venezuelan Standard Time</option>
<option value="-4">[UTC - 4] Atlantic Standard Time</option>
<option value="-3.5">[UTC - 3:30] Newfoundland Standard Time</option>
<option value="-3">[UTC - 3] Amazon Standard Time, Central Greenland Time</option>
<option value="-2">[UTC - 2] Fernando de Noronha Time, South Georgia &amp; the South Sandwich Islands Time</option>
<option value="-1">[UTC - 1] Azores Standard Time, Cape Verde Time, Eastern Greenland Time</option>
<option value="0" selected="selected">[UTC] Western European Time, Greenwich Mean Time</option>
<option value="1">[UTC + 1] Central European Time, West African Time</option>
<option value="2">[UTC + 2] Eastern European Time, Central African Time</option>
<option value="3">[UTC + 3] Moscow Standard Time, Eastern African Time</option>
<option value="3.5">[UTC + 3:30] Iran Standard Time</option>
<option value="4">[UTC + 4] Gulf Standard Time, Samara Standard Time</option>
<option value="4.5">[UTC + 4:30] Afghanistan Time</option>
<option value="5">[UTC + 5] Pakistan Standard Time, Yekaterinburg Standard Time</option>
<option value="5.5">[UTC + 5:30] Indian Standard Time, Sri Lanka Time</option>
<option value="5.75">[UTC + 5:45] Nepal Time</option>
<option value="6">[UTC + 6] Bangladesh Time, Bhutan Time, Novosibirsk Standard Time</option>
<option value="6.5">[UTC + 6:30] Cocos Islands Time, Myanmar Time</option>
<option value="7">[UTC + 7] Indochina Time, Krasnoyarsk Standard Time</option>
<option value="8">[UTC + 8] Chinese Standard Time, Australian Western Standard Time, Irkutsk Standard Time</option>
<option value="8.75">[UTC + 8:45] Southeastern Western Australia Standard Time</option>
<option value="9">[UTC + 9] Japan Standard Time, Korea Standard Time, Chita Standard Time</option>
<option value="9.5">[UTC + 9:30] Australian Central Standard Time</option>
<option value="10">[UTC + 10] Australian Eastern Standard Time, Vladivostok Standard Time</option>
<option value="10.5">[UTC + 10:30] Lord Howe Standard Time</option>
<option value="11">[UTC + 11] Solomon Island Time, Magadan Standard Time</option>
<option value="11.5">[UTC + 11:30] Norfolk Island Time</option>
<option value="12">[UTC + 12] New Zealand Time, Fiji Time, Kamchatka Standard Time</option>
<option value="12.75">[UTC + 12:45] Chatham Islands Time</option>
<option value="13">[UTC + 13] Tonga Time, Phoenix Islands Time</option>
<option value="14">[UTC + 14] Line Island Time</option>

Or using PHP friendly values:

<option value="Pacific/Midway">(GMT-11:00) Midway Island, Samoa</option>
<option value="America/Adak">(GMT-10:00) Hawaii-Aleutian</option>
<option value="Etc/GMT+10">(GMT-10:00) Hawaii</option>
<option value="Pacific/Marquesas">(GMT-09:30) Marquesas Islands</option>
<option value="Pacific/Gambier">(GMT-09:00) Gambier Islands</option>
<option value="America/Anchorage">(GMT-09:00) Alaska</option>
<option value="America/Ensenada">(GMT-08:00) Tijuana, Baja California</option>
<option value="Etc/GMT+8">(GMT-08:00) Pitcairn Islands</option>
<option value="America/Los_Angeles">(GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)</option>
<option value="America/Denver">(GMT-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)</option>
<option value="America/Chihuahua">(GMT-07:00) Chihuahua, La Paz, Mazatlan</option>
<option value="America/Dawson_Creek">(GMT-07:00) Arizona</option>
<option value="America/Belize">(GMT-06:00) Saskatchewan, Central America</option>
<option value="America/Cancun">(GMT-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey</option>
<option value="Chile/EasterIsland">(GMT-06:00) Easter Island</option>
<option value="America/Chicago">(GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)</option>
<option value="America/New_York">(GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)</option>
<option value="America/Havana">(GMT-05:00) Cuba</option>
<option value="America/Bogota">(GMT-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco</option>
<option value="America/Caracas">(GMT-04:30) Caracas</option>
<option value="America/Santiago">(GMT-04:00) Santiago</option>
<option value="America/La_Paz">(GMT-04:00) La Paz</option>
<option value="Atlantic/Stanley">(GMT-04:00) Faukland Islands</option>
<option value="America/Campo_Grande">(GMT-04:00) Brazil</option>
<option value="America/Goose_Bay">(GMT-04:00) Atlantic Time (Goose Bay)</option>
<option value="America/Glace_Bay">(GMT-04:00) Atlantic Time (Canada)</option>
<option value="America/St_Johns">(GMT-03:30) Newfoundland</option>
<option value="America/Araguaina">(GMT-03:00) UTC-3</option>
<option value="America/Montevideo">(GMT-03:00) Montevideo</option>
<option value="America/Miquelon">(GMT-03:00) Miquelon, St. Pierre</option>
<option value="America/Godthab">(GMT-03:00) Greenland</option>
<option value="America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires">(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires</option>
<option value="America/Sao_Paulo">(GMT-03:00) Brasilia</option>
<option value="America/Noronha">(GMT-02:00) Mid-Atlantic</option>
<option value="Atlantic/Cape_Verde">(GMT-01:00) Cape Verde Is.</option>
<option value="Atlantic/Azores">(GMT-01:00) Azores</option>
<option value="Europe/Belfast">(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Belfast</option>
<option value="Europe/Dublin">(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin</option>
<option value="Europe/Lisbon">(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Lisbon</option>
<option value="Europe/London">(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : London</option>
<option value="Africa/Abidjan">(GMT) Monrovia, Reykjavik</option>
<option value="Europe/Amsterdam">(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna</option>
<option value="Europe/Belgrade">(GMT+01:00) Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague</option>
<option value="Europe/Brussels">(GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris</option>
<option value="Africa/Algiers">(GMT+01:00) West Central Africa</option>
<option value="Africa/Windhoek">(GMT+01:00) Windhoek</option>
<option value="Asia/Beirut">(GMT+02:00) Beirut</option>
<option value="Africa/Cairo">(GMT+02:00) Cairo</option>
<option value="Asia/Gaza">(GMT+02:00) Gaza</option>
<option value="Africa/Blantyre">(GMT+02:00) Harare, Pretoria</option>
<option value="Asia/Jerusalem">(GMT+02:00) Jerusalem</option>
<option value="Europe/Minsk">(GMT+02:00) Minsk</option>
<option value="Asia/Damascus">(GMT+02:00) Syria</option>
<option value="Europe/Moscow">(GMT+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd</option>
<option value="Africa/Addis_Ababa">(GMT+03:00) Nairobi</option>
<option value="Asia/Tehran">(GMT+03:30) Tehran</option>
<option value="Asia/Dubai">(GMT+04:00) Abu Dhabi, Muscat</option>
<option value="Asia/Yerevan">(GMT+04:00) Yerevan</option>
<option value="Asia/Kabul">(GMT+04:30) Kabul</option>
<option value="Asia/Yekaterinburg">(GMT+05:00) Ekaterinburg</option>
<option value="Asia/Tashkent">(GMT+05:00) Tashkent</option>
<option value="Asia/Kolkata">(GMT+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi</option>
<option value="Asia/Katmandu">(GMT+05:45) Kathmandu</option>
<option value="Asia/Dhaka">(GMT+06:00) Astana, Dhaka</option>
<option value="Asia/Novosibirsk">(GMT+06:00) Novosibirsk</option>
<option value="Asia/Rangoon">(GMT+06:30) Yangon (Rangoon)</option>
<option value="Asia/Bangkok">(GMT+07:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta</option>
<option value="Asia/Krasnoyarsk">(GMT+07:00) Krasnoyarsk</option>
<option value="Asia/Hong_Kong">(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi</option>
<option value="Asia/Irkutsk">(GMT+08:00) Irkutsk, Ulaan Bataar</option>
<option value="Australia/Perth">(GMT+08:00) Perth</option>
<option value="Australia/Eucla">(GMT+08:45) Eucla</option>
<option value="Asia/Tokyo">(GMT+09:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo</option>
<option value="Asia/Seoul">(GMT+09:00) Seoul</option>
<option value="Asia/Yakutsk">(GMT+09:00) Yakutsk</option>
<option value="Australia/Adelaide">(GMT+09:30) Adelaide</option>
<option value="Australia/Darwin">(GMT+09:30) Darwin</option>
<option value="Australia/Brisbane">(GMT+10:00) Brisbane</option>
<option value="Australia/Hobart">(GMT+10:00) Hobart</option>
<option value="Asia/Vladivostok">(GMT+10:00) Vladivostok</option>
<option value="Australia/Lord_Howe">(GMT+10:30) Lord Howe Island</option>
<option value="Etc/GMT-11">(GMT+11:00) Solomon Is., New Caledonia</option>
<option value="Asia/Magadan">(GMT+11:00) Magadan</option>
<option value="Pacific/Norfolk">(GMT+11:30) Norfolk Island</option>
<option value="Asia/Anadyr">(GMT+12:00) Anadyr, Kamchatka</option>
<option value="Pacific/Auckland">(GMT+12:00) Auckland, Wellington</option>
<option value="Etc/GMT-12">(GMT+12:00) Fiji, Kamchatka, Marshall Is.</option>
<option value="Pacific/Chatham">(GMT+12:45) Chatham Islands</option>
<option value="Pacific/Tongatapu">(GMT+13:00) Nuku'alofa</option>
<option value="Pacific/Kiritimati">(GMT+14:00) Kiritimati</option>

Or just using PHP itself:

$timezones = DateTimeZone::listAbbreviations();

$cities = array();
foreach( $timezones as $key => $zones )
{
    foreach( $zones as $id => $zone )
    {
        /**
         * Only get timezones explicitely not part of "Others".
         * @see http://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.others.php
         */
        if ( preg_match( '/^(America|Antartica|Arctic|Asia|Atlantic|Europe|Indian|Pacific)\//', $zone['timezone_id'] ) 
            && $zone['timezone_id']) {
            $cities[$zone['timezone_id']][] = $key;
        }
    }
}

// For each city, have a comma separated list of all possible timezones for that city.
foreach( $cities as $key => $value )
    $cities[$key] = join( ', ', $value);

// Only keep one city (the first and also most important) for each set of possibilities. 
$cities = array_unique( $cities );

// Sort by area/city name.
ksort( $cities );

It seems like the last one would be the safest as it would grow with the PHP release being used. You could also flip that array around when needed to tie timezones to city names.

Answer 1

I would do it in PHP, except I would avoid doing preg_match 100 some times and do this to generate your list.

$tzlist = DateTimeZone::listIdentifiers(DateTimeZone::ALL);

Also, I would use PHP's names for the 'timezones' and forget about GMT offsets, which will change based on DST. Code like that in phpbb is only that way b/c they are still supporting PHP4 and can't rely on the DateTime or DateTimeZone objects being there.

Answer 2

Editing Tamas' answer to remove all the "other" entries that the php.net site says should no longer be used.

Maybe doesn't matter, but just following best practices. See notice at bottom of: http://fr2.php.net/manual/en/timezones.others.php

Also, though this list has the Azores as GMT -1, in fact I think it's the same (at least sometimes) as GMT, but not sure.

Editing to offer this in sql so you can create the drop down list in a form and have the user's answer be tied to an index instead.

Editing again to remove leading space

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `timezones` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` varchar(44) DEFAULT NULL,
  `timezone` varchar(30) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=141 ;

--
-- Dumping data for table `timezones`
--

INSERT INTO `timezones` (`id`, `name`, `timezone`) VALUES
(1, '(GMT-11:00) Midway Island ', 'Pacific/Midway'),
(2, '(GMT-11:00) Samoa ', 'Pacific/Samoa'),
(3, '(GMT-10:00) Hawaii ', 'Pacific/Honolulu'),
(4, '(GMT-09:00) Alaska ', 'America/Anchorage'),
(5, '(GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) ', 'America/Los_Angeles'),
(6, '(GMT-08:00) Tijuana ', 'America/Tijuana'),
(7, '(GMT-07:00) Chihuahua ', 'America/Chihuahua'),
(8, '(GMT-07:00) La Paz ', 'America/Chihuahua'),
(9, '(GMT-07:00) Mazatlan ', 'America/Mazatlan'),
(10, '(GMT-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada) ', 'America/Denver'),
(11, '(GMT-06:00) Central America ', 'America/Managua'),
(12, '(GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) ', 'America/Chicago'),
(13, '(GMT-06:00) Guadalajara ', 'America/Mexico_City'),
(14, '(GMT-06:00) Mexico City ', 'America/Mexico_City'),
(15, '(GMT-06:00) Monterrey ', 'America/Monterrey'),
(16, '(GMT-05:00) Bogota ', 'America/Bogota'),
(17, '(GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) ', 'America/New_York'),
(18, '(GMT-05:00) Lima ', 'America/Lima'),
(19, '(GMT-05:00) Quito ', 'America/Bogota'),
(20, '(GMT-04:00) Atlantic Time (Canada) ', 'Canada/Atlantic'),
(21, '(GMT-04:30) Caracas ', 'America/Caracas'),
(22, '(GMT-04:00) La Paz ', 'America/La_Paz'),
(23, '(GMT-04:00) Santiago ', 'America/Santiago'),
(24, '(GMT-03:30) Newfoundland ', 'America/St_Johns'),
(25, '(GMT-03:00) Brasilia ', 'America/Sao_Paulo'),
(26, '(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires ', 'America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires'),
(27, '(GMT-03:00) Georgetown ', 'America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires'),
(28, '(GMT-03:00) Greenland ', 'America/Godthab'),
(29, '(GMT-02:00) Mid-Atlantic ', 'America/Noronha'),
(30, '(GMT-01:00) Azores ', 'Atlantic/Azores'),
(31, '(GMT-01:00) Cape Verde Is. ', 'Atlantic/Cape_Verde'),
(32, '(GMT+00:00) Casablanca ', 'Africa/Casablanca'),
(33, '(GMT+00:00) Edinburgh ', 'Europe/London'),
(34, '(GMT+00:00) Dublin ', 'Europe/Dublin'),
(35, '(GMT+00:00) Lisbon ', 'Europe/Lisbon'),
(36, '(GMT+00:00) London ', 'Europe/London'),
(37, '(GMT+00:00) Monrovia ', 'Africa/Monrovia'),
(38, '(GMT+00:00) UTC ', 'UTC'),
(39, '(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam ', 'Europe/Amsterdam'),
(40, '(GMT+01:00) Belgrade ', 'Europe/Belgrade'),
(41, '(GMT+01:00) Berlin ', 'Europe/Berlin'),
(42, '(GMT+01:00) Bern ', 'Europe/Berlin'),
(43, '(GMT+01:00) Bratislava ', 'Europe/Bratislava'),
(44, '(GMT+01:00) Brussels ', 'Europe/Brussels'),
(45, '(GMT+01:00) Budapest ', 'Europe/Budapest'),
(46, '(GMT+01:00) Copenhagen ', 'Europe/Copenhagen'),
(47, '(GMT+01:00) Ljubljana ', 'Europe/Ljubljana'),
(48, '(GMT+01:00) Madrid ', 'Europe/Madrid'),
(49, '(GMT+01:00) Paris ', 'Europe/Paris'),
(50, '(GMT+01:00) Prague ', 'Europe/Prague'),
(51, '(GMT+01:00) Rome ', 'Europe/Rome'),
(52, '(GMT+01:00) Sarajevo ', 'Europe/Sarajevo'),
(53, '(GMT+01:00) Skopje ', 'Europe/Skopje'),
(54, '(GMT+01:00) Stockholm ', 'Europe/Stockholm'),
(55, '(GMT+01:00) Vienna ', 'Europe/Vienna'),
(56, '(GMT+01:00) Warsaw ', 'Europe/Warsaw'),
(57, '(GMT+01:00) West Central Africa ', 'Africa/Lagos'),
(58, '(GMT+01:00) Zagreb ', 'Europe/Zagreb'),
(59, '(GMT+02:00) Athens ', 'Europe/Athens'),
(60, '(GMT+02:00) Bucharest ', 'Europe/Bucharest'),
(61, '(GMT+02:00) Cairo ', 'Africa/Cairo'),
(62, '(GMT+02:00) Harare ', 'Africa/Harare'),
(63, '(GMT+02:00) Helsinki ', 'Europe/Helsinki'),
(64, '(GMT+02:00) Istanbul ', 'Europe/Istanbul'),
(65, '(GMT+02:00) Jerusalem ', 'Asia/Jerusalem'),
(66, '(GMT+02:00) Kyiv ', 'Europe/Helsinki'),
(67, '(GMT+02:00) Pretoria ', 'Africa/Johannesburg'),
(68, '(GMT+02:00) Riga ', 'Europe/Riga'),
(69, '(GMT+02:00) Sofia ', 'Europe/Sofia'),
(70, '(GMT+02:00) Tallinn ', 'Europe/Tallinn'),
(71, '(GMT+02:00) Vilnius ', 'Europe/Vilnius'),
(72, '(GMT+03:00) Baghdad ', 'Asia/Baghdad'),
(73, '(GMT+03:00) Kuwait ', 'Asia/Kuwait'),
(74, '(GMT+03:00) Minsk ', 'Europe/Minsk'),
(75, '(GMT+03:00) Nairobi ', 'Africa/Nairobi'),
(76, '(GMT+03:00) Riyadh ', 'Asia/Riyadh'),
(77, '(GMT+03:00) Volgograd ', 'Europe/Volgograd'),
(78, '(GMT+03:30) Tehran ', 'Asia/Tehran'),
(79, '(GMT+04:00) Abu Dhabi ', 'Asia/Muscat'),
(80, '(GMT+04:00) Baku ', 'Asia/Baku'),
(81, '(GMT+04:00) Moscow ', 'Europe/Moscow'),
(82, '(GMT+04:00) Muscat ', 'Asia/Muscat'),
(83, '(GMT+04:00) St. Petersburg ', 'Europe/Moscow'),
(84, '(GMT+04:00) Tbilisi ', 'Asia/Tbilisi'),
(85, '(GMT+04:00) Yerevan ', 'Asia/Yerevan'),
(86, '(GMT+04:30) Kabul ', 'Asia/Kabul'),
(87, '(GMT+05:00) Islamabad ', 'Asia/Karachi'),
(88, '(GMT+05:00) Karachi ', 'Asia/Karachi'),
(89, '(GMT+05:00) Tashkent ', 'Asia/Tashkent'),
(90, '(GMT+05:30) Chennai ', 'Asia/Calcutta'),
(91, '(GMT+05:30) Kolkata ', 'Asia/Kolkata'),
(92, '(GMT+05:30) Mumbai ', 'Asia/Calcutta'),
(93, '(GMT+05:30) New Delhi ', 'Asia/Calcutta'),
(94, '(GMT+05:30) Sri Jayawardenepura ', 'Asia/Calcutta'),
(95, '(GMT+05:45) Kathmandu ', 'Asia/Katmandu'),
(96, '(GMT+06:00) Almaty ', 'Asia/Almaty'),
(97, '(GMT+06:00) Astana ', 'Asia/Dhaka'),
(98, '(GMT+06:00) Dhaka ', 'Asia/Dhaka'),
(99, '(GMT+06:00) Ekaterinburg ', 'Asia/Yekaterinburg'),
(100, '(GMT+06:30) Rangoon ', 'Asia/Rangoon'),
(101, '(GMT+07:00) Bangkok ', 'Asia/Bangkok'),
(102, '(GMT+07:00) Hanoi ', 'Asia/Bangkok'),
(103, '(GMT+07:00) Jakarta ', 'Asia/Jakarta'),
(104, '(GMT+07:00) Novosibirsk ', 'Asia/Novosibirsk'),
(105, '(GMT+08:00) Beijing ', 'Asia/Hong_Kong'),
(106, '(GMT+08:00) Chongqing ', 'Asia/Chongqing'),
(107, '(GMT+08:00) Hong Kong ', 'Asia/Hong_Kong'),
(108, '(GMT+08:00) Krasnoyarsk ', 'Asia/Krasnoyarsk'),
(109, '(GMT+08:00) Kuala Lumpur ', 'Asia/Kuala_Lumpur'),
(110, '(GMT+08:00) Perth ', 'Australia/Perth'),
(111, '(GMT+08:00) Singapore ', 'Asia/Singapore'),
(112, '(GMT+08:00) Taipei ', 'Asia/Taipei'),
(113, '(GMT+08:00) Ulaan Bataar ', 'Asia/Ulan_Bator'),
(114, '(GMT+08:00) Urumqi ', 'Asia/Urumqi'),
(115, '(GMT+09:00) Irkutsk ', 'Asia/Irkutsk'),
(116, '(GMT+09:00) Osaka ', 'Asia/Tokyo'),
(117, '(GMT+09:00) Sapporo ', 'Asia/Tokyo'),
(118, '(GMT+09:00) Seoul ', 'Asia/Seoul'),
(119, '(GMT+09:00) Tokyo ', 'Asia/Tokyo'),
(120, '(GMT+09:30) Adelaide ', 'Australia/Adelaide'),
(121, '(GMT+09:30) Darwin ', 'Australia/Darwin'),
(122, '(GMT+10:00) Brisbane ', 'Australia/Brisbane'),
(123, '(GMT+10:00) Canberra ', 'Australia/Canberra'),
(124, '(GMT+10:00) Guam ', 'Pacific/Guam'),
(125, '(GMT+10:00) Hobart ', 'Australia/Hobart'),
(126, '(GMT+10:00) Melbourne ', 'Australia/Melbourne'),
(127, '(GMT+10:00) Port Moresby ', 'Pacific/Port_Moresby'),
(128, '(GMT+10:00) Sydney ', 'Australia/Sydney'),
(129, '(GMT+10:00) Yakutsk ', 'Asia/Yakutsk'),
(130, '(GMT+11:00) Vladivostok ', 'Asia/Vladivostok'),
(131, '(GMT+12:00) Auckland ', 'Pacific/Auckland'),
(132, '(GMT+12:00) Fiji ', 'Pacific/Fiji'),
(133, '(GMT+12:00) International Date Line West ', 'Pacific/Kwajalein'),
(134, '(GMT+12:00) Kamchatka ', 'Asia/Kamchatka'),
(135, '(GMT+12:00) Magadan ', 'Asia/Magadan'),
(136, '(GMT+12:00) Marshall Is. ', 'Pacific/Fiji'),
(137, '(GMT+12:00) New Caledonia ', 'Asia/Magadan'),
(138, '(GMT+12:00) Solomon Is. ', 'Asia/Magadan'),
(139, '(GMT+12:00) Wellington ', 'Pacific/Auckland'),
(140, '(GMT+13:00) Nuku\\alofa ', 'Pacific/Tongatapu');

/*!40101 SET CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT=@OLD_CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT */;
/*!40101 SET CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS=@OLD_CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS */;
/*!40101 SET COLLATION_CONNECTION=@OLD_COLLATION_CONNECTION */;

Answer 3

I know this has an answer already but I saw an opportunity to improve upon one of the answers here. Toland H posted some very good code that does exactly what the question was asking for. Below is a shortened and expand version of Toland H's code:

• The function places everything in option tags for you. Just echo out whats return between your select tags.
• Major Improvement: The list is sorted first by continent and organized in option groups based on continents. Makes it very user friendly for visitors picking their timezone.

---

function generate_timezone_list() {
static $allRegions = array(
DateTimeZone::AFRICA,
DateTimeZone::AMERICA,
DateTimeZone::ANTARCTICA,
DateTimeZone::ASIA,
DateTimeZone::ATLANTIC,
DateTimeZone::AUSTRALIA,
DateTimeZone::EUROPE,
DateTimeZone::INDIAN,
DateTimeZone::PACIFIC
);
// Makes it easier to create option groups next
$list = array ('AFRICA','AMERICA','ANTARCTICA','ASIA','ATLANTIC','AUSTRALIA','EUROPE','INDIAN','PACIFIC');
// Make array holding the regions (continents), they are arrays w/ all their cities
$region = array();
foreach ($allRegions as $area){
array_push ($region,DateTimeZone::listIdentifiers( $area ));
}   
$count = count ($region); $i = 0; $holder = '';
// Go through each region one by one, sorting and formatting it's cities
while ($i < $count){
$chunck = $region[$i];
// Create the region (continents) option group
$holder .= '<optgroup label="---------- '.$list[$i].' ----------">';
$timezone_offsets = array();
foreach( $chunck as $timezone ){
$tz = new DateTimeZone($timezone);
$timezone_offsets[$timezone] = $tz->getOffset(new DateTime);
}
asort ($timezone_offsets);
$timezone_list = array();
foreach ($timezone_offsets as $timezone => $offset){
$offset_prefix = $offset < 0 ? '-' : '+';
$offset_formatted = gmdate( 'H:i', abs($offset) );
$pretty_offset = "UTC ${offset_prefix}${offset_formatted}";
$timezone_list[$timezone] = "(${pretty_offset}) $timezone";     
}
// All the formatting is done, finish and move on to next region
foreach ($timezone_list as $key => $val){
$holder .= '<option value="'.$key.'">'.$val.'</option>';
}
$holder .= '</optgroup>';
++$i;
}
return $holder;
}
echo "<select>".generate_timezone_list()."</select>";

Then all you need to do is echo out what is returned between your html select tags. You'll get a select list something like this:

----- AFRICA -----
(UTC +00:00) Africa/ city name
(UTC +01:00) Africa/ city name
(UTC +02:00) Africa/ city name
(UTC +02:00) Africa/ city name
----- AMERICA -----
(UTC -09:00) America/ city name
(UTC -07:00) America/ city name
(UTC +02:00) America/ city name
(UTC +05:00) America/ city name

And so on...

Answer 4

Using listAbbreviations() makes no sense as for every area it returns all the different offsets that were historically used there, not just current ones. The right base source of the list is definitely listIdentifiers().

I would generate the list just once and save it to avoid generating it for every request. I could refresh it once a month.

Also, I could put all the timezones info into a separate js-script and generate the select list itself on the client side. The js-script could be cached as well, timezones don't change often.

Also, using javascript on the client side, you can know the current local time, and hence you can find the zones that have the same time now (minutes may differ, so comparison should be approximate), and display them on the top of the list, so the user does not have to scroll through all the 400 items. You can also display adjacent zones (+/-1 hour) following.

Answer 5

See this example also

<?php
     function get_timezones() 
     {
        $o = array();
        $t_zones = timezone_identifiers_list();
        foreach($t_zones as $a)
        {
            $t = '';

            try
            {
                //this throws exception for 'US/Pacific-New'
                $zone = new DateTimeZone($a);

                $seconds = $zone->getOffset( new DateTime("now" , $zone) );
                $hours = sprintf( "%+02d" , intval($seconds/3600));
                $minutes = sprintf( "%02d" , ($seconds%3600)/60 );

                $t = $a ."  [ $hours:$minutes ]" ;

                $o[$a] = $t;
            }

            //exceptions must be catched, else a blank page
            catch(Exception $e)
            {
                //die("Exception : " . $e->getMessage() . '<br />');
                //what to do in catch ? , nothing just relax
            }
        }

        ksort($o);

        return $o;
    } 

    $o = get_timezones();
    ?>

    <html>
    <body>
    <select name="time_zone">
    <?php
        foreach($o as $tz => $label)
        {
            echo "<option value="$tz">$label</option>";
        }
    ?>
    </select>
    </body>
    </html>

Answer 6

public static function tzList()
{
    $tzMap = array();
    $zones = \DateTimeZone::listIdentifiers();
    foreach ($zones as $zone) {
        $tz = new \DateTimeZone($zone);
        $now = new \DateTime("utc", $tz);
        $diffInSeconds = $tz->getOffset($now);
        $hours = floor($diffInSeconds / 3600);
        $minutes = floor(($diffInSeconds % 3600) / 60);
        $tzMap[$zone] = sprintf("%+d", $hours) . ":" . sprintf("%02d", $minutes);
    }
    return $tzMap;
}

Tada! It's this simple. Gives you an array with the key as the PHP timezone and the value as a string in the format +-Hours:Minutes