Detailed usage instructions and sample code of PHP date and time function date

In PHP, handling dates and times is a very common task. To meet this need, PHP provides the powerful date and time function date(). The date() function can be used to format dates and times and convert them to specified strings.

Below we will introduce the use of the date() function in detail and provide some sample code to illustrate its usage.

Syntax:
date(format, timestamp)

Parameter Description:

• format: The format string to format the date and time. Different placeholders can be used to represent different date and time elements. Commonly used placeholders include:
  • Y: four-digit year (for example: 2023)
  • m: two-digit month (01 to 12)
  • d: Two-digit day number (01 to 31)
  • H: Hour number in 24-hour format (00 to 23)
  • i: number of minutes (00 to 59)
  • s: number of seconds (00 to 59)
  • These placeholders can be combined as needed to construct a specific date-time format.
• timestamp (optional): Timestamp to format. If not specified, the current time is used by default.

Return value:
Returns a formatted date and time string.

Sample code:
The following is some common sample code that demonstrates different uses of the date() function:

1. Output the current date:

$date =</