How to Format Unix Timestamps as Date Strings in PHP?

Formatting Unix Timestamps as Date Strings in PHP

Converting Unix timestamps to formatted date strings is a common task in PHP-based applications. By formatting these numerical representations, you can display timestamps in a human-readable format, such as "2008-07-17T09:24:17Z".

For example, you want to convert a timestamp like 1333699439 to the string "2008-07-17T09:24:17Z". To achieve this, you can use the gmdate() function, which formats a timestamp according to the specified format string. Here's how you can do it:

<?php
$timestamp = 1333699439;
$formattedDate = gmdate("Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z", $timestamp);
echo $formattedDate;
?>

In this code, the gmdate() function is used with the following format string:

• "Y": Year, represented as a 4-digit string
• "m": Month, represented as a 2-digit string (01 to 12)
• "d": Day of the month, represented as a 2-digit string (01 to 31)
• "T": Separator between date and time
• "H": Hours (24-hour format), represented as a 2-digit string (00 to 23)
• "i": Minutes, represented as a 2-digit string (00 to 59)
• "s": Seconds, represented as a 2-digit string (00 to 59)
• "Z": Zulu time (UTC)

By composing these format specifiers, you can create a custom date string format that matches your desired output. The gmdate() function will then apply this format to the provided timestamp, resulting in a formatted date string in UTC time.

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