Timezone conversion in php

Question

Can anyone suggest an easy method to convert date and time to different timezones in php?

Answer 1

DateTime::setTimezone -- date_timezone_set — Sets the time zone for the DateTime object

Object oriented style

<?php
$date = new DateTime('2000-01-01', new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

$date->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('Pacific/Chatham'));
echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
?>

Procedural style

<?php
$date = date_create('2000-01-01', timezone_open('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

date_timezone_set($date, timezone_open('Pacific/Chatham'));
echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
?>

The above examples will output:

2000-01-01 00:00:00+12:00
2000-01-01 01:45:00+13:45

Answer 2

You can use the datetime object or their function aliases for this:

Example (abridged from PHP Manual)

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London');

$datetime = new DateTime('2008-08-03 12:35:23');
echo $datetime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') . "\n";
$la_time = new DateTimeZone('America/Los_Angeles');
$datetime->setTimezone($la_time);
echo $datetime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

---

Edit regarding comments

but i cannt use this method because i need to show date in different time zones as the user login from different locations

That's not a problem. When a user logs in, you determine his timezone and set it to your DateTime object just like shown. I'm using a similar approach in one of my projects and it works like a charm.

in the database i need to get the dates in any single timezone, then only it can be processed properly

You store the time either as a timestamp or a datetime in one timezone. When you query a DateTime field, you either convert the time in a DateTime object to this timezone or - if your db supports it - query with the selected timezone.

Answer 3

An even simpler method looks like this:

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London'); // your user's timezone
$my_datetime='2013-10-23 15:47:10';
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s',strtotime("$my_datetime UTC"));

As described in the PHP manual, strtotime() accepts a timezone too, you just have to append it to your datetime.

I recommend you to store all your datetimes in UTC because that way you won't have problems with the daylight savings.

Answer 4

// Convert date from one zone to another..
/* 
$zone_from='Asia/Kolkata';

$zone_to='America/Phoenix';

date_default_timezone_set($zone_from);

$convert_date="2016-02-26 10:35:00";

echo $finalDate=zone_conversion_date($convert_date, $zone_from, $zone_to);

*/
function zone_conversion_date($time, $cur_zone, $req_zone)
{   
    date_default_timezone_set("GMT");
    $gmt = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
    
    date_default_timezone_set($cur_zone);
    $local = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
  
    date_default_timezone_set($req_zone);
    $required = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
    
    /* return $required; */
    $diff1 = (strtotime($gmt) - strtotime($local));
    $diff2 = (strtotime($required) - strtotime($gmt));

    $date = new DateTime($time);
    $date->modify("+$diff1 seconds");
    $date->modify("+$diff2 seconds");

    return $timestamp = $date->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");
}

Answer 5

None of these answers worked for me (I skipped trying code that was overly bulky in size). I also think it's weird to change the default timezone just for a single conversion.

Here is my solution:

function changeTimeZone($dateString, $timeZoneSource = null, $timeZoneTarget = null)
{
  if (empty($timeZoneSource)) {
    $timeZoneSource = date_default_timezone_get();
  }
  if (empty($timeZoneTarget)) {
    $timeZoneTarget = date_default_timezone_get();
  }

  $dt = new DateTime($dateString, new DateTimeZone($timeZoneSource));
  $dt->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone($timeZoneTarget));

  return $dt->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");
}

So, to convert to the server default, you would just pass one timezone:

changeTimeZone("2016-10-24 16:28", "Asia/Tokyo");

To convert from the server default to the user, you would leave the 2nd parameter null or blank:

changeTimeZone("2016-10-24 16:28", "", "Asia/Tokyo");

And to switch between 2 timezones unrelated to the default, you would provide 2 timezones:

changeTimeZone("2016-10-24 16:28", "America/New_York", "Asia/Tokyo");

Answer 6

UTC to local:

<?php
$datetime = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
$utc = new DateTime($datetime, new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
$utc->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/Sao_Paulo'));
echo $utc->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

?>