Trying to use PHP DateTime Class with Yii2 receiving class not found errors

Question

Hello I am trying to create my own custom helper class to use with Yii2. It is going to handle times so I\'ll be working with PHP\'s DateTime class. I have

Answer 1

Add use for DateTime:

use Yii;
use DateTime;

See use "global-namespace";

Answer 2

Put a backslash in from of the class name to indicate it is in the global namespace:

$time = new \DateTime('now', new \DateTimeZone('UTC'));