[edit] Last updated: Fri, 18 May 2012

DateTime::getTimestamp

date_timestamp_get

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0)

DateTime::getTimestamp -- date_timestamp_get — Gets the Unix timestamp

Description

Object oriented style

public int DateTime::getTimestamp ( void )

Procedural style

int date_timestamp_get ( DateTime $object )

Gets the Unix timestamp.

Parameters

This function has no parameters.

Return Values

Returns the Unix timestamp representing the date.

Examples

Example #1 DateTime::getTimestamp() example

Object oriented style


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

Procedural style


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

The above examples will output something similar to:

1272509157

Notes

Using U as the parameter to DateTime::format() is an alternative when using PHP 5.2.


It's important to note that on 32-Bit systems getTimestamp() will return false for dates greater than 2038, while format("U") will return an unsigned integer



This will return false:



<?php

    $dt = new DateTime('2039/1/1');

    echo  $dt->getTimestamp();

?>



But this will return a value:



<?php

    $dt = new DateTime('2039/1/1');

    echo  $dt->format('U');

?>

Justin Heesemann 11-Jun-2010 02:57


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();

?>

add a note