How to get the current date and time
Short answer
The date() function returns the current date in the needed format:
<?php
echo date('d.m.Y H:i');A date object
An object is handier for calculations:
<?php
$now = new DateTimeImmutable();
echo $now->format('Y-m-d');The time zone
The time depends on the zone. Set it explicitly, otherwise PHP uses UTC:
<?php
$moscow = new DateTimeImmutable('2025-01-30 12:00', new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
echo $moscow->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('Europe/Moscow'))->format('H:i');Output:
15:00Functions used in this recipe
- date — Formats a date and time.
- time — Returns the current timestamp.
- DateTimeImmutable — A date and time object that cannot be changed: every operation returns a new object.