How to Use the PHP mktime() Function

09/07/2021

Contents

In this article, you will learn how to use the PHP mktime() function.

PHP mktime() Function

The mktime() function in PHP is used to create a timestamp based on the parameters passed to it.

Syntax:
mktime($hour, $minute, $second, $month, $day, $year)
Parameters:
  • $hour: The hour of the time.
  • $minute: The minute of the time.
  • $second: The second of the time.
  • $month: The month of the year (from 0 to 11).
  • $day: The day of the month (from 1 to 31).
  • $year: The year (4 digits).
Example:

For example, to create a timestamp for January 1st, 2022 at 12:00:00 PM:

<?php
  $timestamp = mktime(12, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2022);
?>

Here are some additional details and examples to help you better understand the mktime() function in PHP:

  • If you pass -1 for the hour, minute, second, month, day, or year argument, the current local time value will be used for that argument.
  • The mktime() function returns the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC.
  • The returned timestamp can be used in various date and time related functions such as date(), strftime(), getdate(), and date_create().

Here is an example to demonstrate how to use the mktime() function to create a timestamp, and then format it using the date() function:

<?php
  $timestamp = mktime(12, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2022);

  $formatted_date = date("l, F d, Y h:i:s A", $timestamp);

  echo $formatted_date;
?>

Output:

Sunday, January 01, 2022 12:00:00 PM

In this example, we first created a timestamp using mktime() and stored it in the $timestamp variable. We then used the date() function to format the timestamp into a human-readable string, which we stored in the $formatted_date variable. Finally, we echoed the formatted date.

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