The date Function in PHP

The date function outputs the current date and time in a specified format. The format is defined using control commands, and any separators can be inserted between them (hyphens, colons, and so on).

Here is a list of control commands:

U – the number of seconds since 1 January 1970 (i.e., timestamp).
z – the day of the year (starting from 0).
Y – year, 4 digits.
y - year, two digits.
m – month number (with leading zero).
n – month number without a leading zero.
d – day of the month, always two digits (the first can be zero).
j – day of the month without a leading zero.
w – day of the week (0 - Sunday, 1 - Monday, etc.).
h – hours in 12-hour format.
H – hours in 24-hour format.
i – minutes.
s – seconds.
L – 1 if it's a leap year, 0 otherwise.
W – the week number of the year.
t – the number of days in the given month.

Any separators can be inserted between the commands (hyphens, colons, and so on).

Examples of Using date

<?php
	// All examples are shown for the date 01.06.2013 at 12.23.59, Monday
	
	echo date('Y'); // returns '2013'
	
	echo date('y'); // returns '13'
	
	echo date('m'); // returns '06' - month number
	
	echo date('d'); // returns '01' - day of the month
	
	echo date('j'); // returns '1' - day of the month (without leading zero)
	
	echo date('w'); // returns '1' - Monday
	
	echo date('H'); // returns '12' - hours
	
	echo date('i'); // returns '23' - minutes
	
	echo date('s'); // returns '59' - seconds
	
	echo date('d-m-Y'); // returns '01-06-2013'
	
	echo date('d.m.Y'); // returns '01.06.2013'
	
	echo date('H:i:s d.m.Y'); // returns '12:23:59 01.06.2013'
?>