Date Helper

The Date Helper file contains functions that assist in working with dates.

Note

Many functions previously found in the CodeIgniter 3 date_helper have been moved to the Time class in CodeIgniter 4.

Loading this Helper

This helper is loaded using the following code:

<?php

helper('date');

Available Functions

The following functions are available:

now([$timezone = null])
Parameters:

  • $timezone (string) – Timezone

Returns:

UNIX timestamp

Return type:

int

Note

It is recommended to use the Time class instead. Use Time::now()->getTimestamp() to get the current UNIX timestamp.

If a timezone is not provided, it will return the current UNIX timestamp by time().

<?php

echo now();

If any PHP supported timezone is provided, it will return a timestamp that is offset by the time difference. It is not the same as the current UNIX timestamp.

If you do not intend to set your master time reference to any other PHP supported timezone (which you’ll typically do if you run a site that lets each user set their own timezone settings) there is no benefit to using this function over PHP’s time() function.

timezone_select([$class = '', $default = '', $what = \DateTimeZone::ALL, $country = null])
Parameters:

  • $class (string) – Optional class to apply to the select field

  • $default (string) – Default value for initial selection

  • $what (int) – DateTimeZone class constants (see listIdentifiers)

  • $country (string) –

    A two-letter ISO 3166-1 compatible country code (see listIdentifiers)

Returns:

Preformatted HTML select field

Return type:

string

Generates a select form field of available timezones (optionally filtered by $what and $country). You can supply an option class to apply to the field to make formatting easier, as well as a default selected value.

<?php

echo timezone_select('custom-select', 'America/New_York');