DateTimeInterface::getTimestamp

DateTimeImmutable::getTimestamp

DateTime::getTimestamp

date_timestamp_get

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

DateTimeInterface::getTimestamp -- DateTimeImmutable::getTimestamp -- DateTime::getTimestamp -- date_timestamp_getGets the Unix timestamp

Description

Object-oriented style

public DateTimeInterface::getTimestamp(): int
public DateTimeImmutable::getTimestamp(): int
public DateTime::getTimestamp(): int

Procedural style

Gets the Unix timestamp.

Parameters

This function has no parameters.

Return Values

Returns the Unix timestamp representing the date.

Errors/Exceptions

If the timestamp cannot be represented as int, a DateRangeError is thrown. Prior to PHP 8.3.0, a ValueError is thrown. And, prior to PHP 8.0.0, false was returned in this case. Still, the timestamp can be retrieved as string by using DateTimeInterface::format() with the U format.

Changelog

Version Description
8.3.0 The out-of-range exception is now DateRangeError.
8.0.0 These functions no longer return false on failure.

Examples

Example #1 DateTime::getTimestamp() example

Object-oriented style

<?php
$date
= new DateTimeImmutable();
echo
$date->getTimestamp();
?>

Procedural style

<?php
$date
= date_create();
echo
date_timestamp_get($date);
?>

The above examples will output something similar to:

1272509157

If you need to retrieve the timestamp with millisecond or microsecond resolution, then you can use the DateTimeInterface::format() function.

Example #2 Retrieving timestamp with milli and microsecond resolution

Object-oriented style

<?php
$date
= new DateTimeImmutable();
$milli = (int)$date->format('Uv'); // Timestamp in milliseconds
$micro = (int)$date->format('Uu'); // Timestamp in microseconds

echo $milli, "\n", $micro, "\n";
?>

The above examples will output something similar to:

1674057635586
1674057635586918

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 3 notes

up
36
heiccih at gmail dot com
10 years ago
In 32-bit system the unix timestamp will overflow if the date goes beyond year 2038 and this method will return false. In 64-bit systems this function will still work as intended. For more information please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem.
up
36
Justin Heesemann
13 years ago
Note that for dates before the unix epoch getTimestamp() will return false, whereas format("U") will return a negative number.

<?php
$date
= new DateTime("1899-12-31");
// "-2209078800"
echo $date->format("U");
// false
echo $date->getTimestamp();
?>
up
-1
Julien Bornstein
3 years ago
Please note that DateTime::gettimestamp() will return an integer, but DateTime::format("U") will return a string.

timestamp must always be typed as int because in PHP, timestamps are integers.

eg:
- strftime ( string $format [, int $timestamp = time() ] ) : string
- time() // return int
- ...

So IMHO, as PHP becomes more and more a typed language, avoid using DateTime::format("U") to avoid this kind of errors "strftime() expects parameter 2 to be int, string given"
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