strtotime

Description
Syntax
Examples
Links

Description

The strtotime of Date / Time for PHP parse about any English textual datetime description into a Unix timestamp.

Syntax

strtotime(
    string $datetime,
    ?int $baseTimestamp = null
): int|false

Parameters

time

A date/time string. Valid formats are explained in Date and Time Formats.

baseTimestamp

The timestamp which is used as a base for the calculation of relative dates.

Return

Returns a timestamp on success, false otherwise.

Examples

1 · datetime

<?

$datetime = "now";

$return = strtotime($datetime);

echo $return;

1736712388

2 · baseTimestamp

<?

$datetime = "now";
$baseTimestamp = time();

$return = strtotime($datetime, $baseTimestamp);

echo $return;

1736712388

3 · -

<?

$array =
[
    "now",
    "-1 second",
    "-1 minute",
    "-1 hour",
    "-1 day",
    "-1 week",
    "-1 month",
    "-1 year",
    "-1 year -1 month -1 week -1 day -1 hour -1 minute -1 second"
];

foreach($array as $datetime)
{
    $return = strtotime($datetime);

    $format = "Y-m-d W H:i:s";

    $date = date($format, $return);

    echo "$return: $date: $datetime\n";
}

1736712388: 2025-01-12 02 20:06:28: now
1736712387: 2025-01-12 02 20:06:27: -1 second
1736712328: 2025-01-12 02 20:05:28: -1 minute
1736708788: 2025-01-12 02 19:06:28: -1 hour
1736625988: 2025-01-11 02 20:06:28: -1 day
1736107588: 2025-01-05 01 20:06:28: -1 week
1734033988: 2024-12-12 50 20:06:28: -1 month
1705089988: 2024-01-12 02 20:06:28: -1 year
1701716727: 2023-12-04 49 19:05:27: -1 year -1 month -1 week -1 day -1 hour -1 minute -1 second

4 · +

<?

$array =
[
    "now",
    "1 second",
    "1 minute",
    "1 hour",
    "1 day",
    "1 week",
    "1 month",
    "1 year",
    "1 year 1 month 1 week 1 day 1 hour 1 minute 1 second"
];

foreach($array as $datetime)
{
    $return = strtotime($datetime);

    $format = "Y-m-d W H:i:s";

    $date = date($format, $return);

    echo "$return: $date: $datetime\n";
}

1736712388: 2025-01-12 02 20:06:28: now
1736712389: 2025-01-12 02 20:06:29: 1 second
1736712448: 2025-01-12 02 20:07:28: 1 minute
1736715988: 2025-01-12 02 21:06:28: 1 hour
1736798788: 2025-01-13 03 20:06:28: 1 day
1737317188: 2025-01-19 03 20:06:28: 1 week
1739390788: 2025-02-12 07 20:06:28: 1 month
1768248388: 2026-01-12 03 20:06:28: 1 year
1771621649: 2026-02-20 08 21:07:29: 1 year 1 month 1 week 1 day 1 hour 1 minute 1 second

5 · day-based

<?

$array =
[
    "now",
    "yesterday",
    "today",
    "midnight",
    "noon",
    "tomorrow",
    "front of 12",
    "back of 12",
    "previous day",
    "next day",
    "1 day ago",
    "-1 day ago",
    "first day of",
    "last day of"
];

foreach($array as $datetime)
{
    $return = strtotime($datetime);

    $format = "Y-m-d W H:i:s";

    $date = date($format, $return);

    echo "$return: $date: $datetime\n";
}

1736712388: 2025-01-12 02 20:06:28: now
1736553600: 2025-01-11 02 00:00:00: yesterday
1736640000: 2025-01-12 02 00:00:00: today
1736640000: 2025-01-12 02 00:00:00: midnight
1736683200: 2025-01-12 02 12:00:00: noon
1736726400: 2025-01-13 03 00:00:00: tomorrow
1736682300: 2025-01-12 02 11:45:00: front of 12
1736684100: 2025-01-12 02 12:15:00: back of 12
1736625988: 2025-01-11 02 20:06:28: previous day
1736798788: 2025-01-13 03 20:06:28: next day
1736625988: 2025-01-11 02 20:06:28: 1 day ago
1736798788: 2025-01-13 03 20:06:28: -1 day ago
1735761988: 2025-01-01 01 20:06:28: first day of
1738353988: 2025-01-31 05 20:06:28: last day of

6 · specific

<?

$array =
[
    "01-02-03",
    "3 february 2001"
];

foreach($array as $datetime)
{
    $return = strtotime($datetime);

    $format = "Y-m-d W H:i:s";

    $date = date($format, $return);

    echo "$return: $date: $datetime\n";
}

981158400: 2001-02-03 05 00:00:00: 01-02-03
981158400: 2001-02-03 05 00:00:00: 3 february 2001

7 · holidays

<?

$array =
[
    "Mother's Day" => "second sunday of may",
    "Memorial Day" => "last monday of may",
    "Father's Day" => "third sunday of june",
    "Thanksgiving Day" => "fourth thursday of november"
];

foreach($array as $key => $datetime)
{
    $return = strtotime($datetime);

    $format = "Y-m-d";

    $date = date($format, $return);

    echo "$date: $key\n";
}

2025-05-11: Mother's Day
2025-05-26: Memorial Day
2025-06-15: Father's Day
2025-11-27: Thanksgiving Day

8 · escape

<?

$datetime = "next day";

$return = strtotime($datetime);

$format = 'l \t\h\e jS \o\f F Y \a\t h:i:s A';

$date = date($format, $return);

echo "\"$datetime\" is $date";

"next day" is Monday the 13th of January 2025 at 08:06:28 PM