a question of TIME

[phppup]

Does time zone change have to occur in an INI file, or can I place it as a value.

 

I've tried using default_time_zone ('America/New York') but had no success with it, even to just ECHO a statement that says: It is now 3:50PM in New York.

[kicken]

The proper setting is America/New_York, with an underscore, not a space.  You can change the timezone to what you want in the script whenever you want, you do not have to set it in the ini file.

 

[phppup]

I've tried it several times, but it never seems to work for me.

 

How scan i simply echo: it is now xxxx in New York?

[Pikachu2000]

With the date function.

[phppup]

see above... need proper syntax

[Pikachu2000]

Did you read the manual entry? The syntax is well documented.

[DavidAM]

To set the timezone, the function name is date_default_timezone_set.

 

// Save current timezone setting
$oldTZ = date_default_timezone_get();
if (date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York')) {
  echo 'The current time in New York is ' . date('h:i:s a');
} else {
  echo ' Nobody ever knows what time it is in New York';
}

// Set timezone back to what it was
date_default_timezone_set($oldTZ);

[phppup]

Plenty of times, and it JUSt won't function for me.

 

 

[phppup]

Thanks DAVID.

 

So there really is no way to just stick NY time into a database?  Or does this set the timezone perminently?

 

 

[Pikachu2000]

Then post the relevant code you've written, and a comprehensive explanation of the problem you're experiencing.

[phppup]

code you've written:

 

echo "it is now $date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York')";  $NOW()

 

comprehensive explanation of the problem:

 

It won't provide the time.

 

[phppup]

Even the code from David provided me with:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: date_default_timezone_get()

[MargateSteve]

date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');
$date = date('Y-m-d H:m');
echo "It is now $date";

[DavidAM]

What version of PHP are you running? That function became available with PHP 5.1

 

I don't think you have given us a comprehensive explanation of the problem. You have suddenly injected "database" into the discussion (reply # but all of your other comments are about echoing out the time. Show us your code and tell us what it should be doing and what it is actually doing, and we can provide targeted help.

 

echo "it is now $date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York')";  $NOW()

 

I did not tell you to echo out the result of date_default_timezone_set() and, by the way, it is not a variable (why is there a dollar sign?) and you can not put a function call inside a quoted string (well, not if you expect it to execute); and why is $NOW() hanging out there on the end your statement all naked (without a semi-colon or anything? and what do you think it is going to do there?

 

comprehensive explanation of the problem:

 

It won't provide the time.

Nowhere in that code did you tell it to give you the time

 

[phppup]

OK, so I thought it was as simple as just slapping it in there and having it echo the time on my page.

 

So I tried:

date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

$date = date('Y-m-d H:m');

echo "It is now $date";

 

and got the same error as above: Fatal error: Call to undefined function: date_default_timezone_set()

 

but when I took out the top line: date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

I got a time posting, but it is Californian.

 

I suppose there are two different things I have in mind.  Fist, just to have the time display as an ECHO message.

Second, if I can get it to run, I would add it to my table so I could get the NYtime that a record was added.

 

[MargateSteve]

I think David might have it spot on with the PHP version. There is a way of doing it through PHP4 (putenv I think) but before anyone puts makes any suggestions They really need to know exactly what version of PHP you are running.

[DavidAM]

What version of PHP are you running? That function became available with PHP 5.1

You never answered that question.

 

 

and got the same error as above: Fatal error: Call to undefined function: date_default_timezone_set()

 

It sounds like you are running an older version of PHP. If that is the case, and you cannot upgrade (which is recommended), you have to use the old timezone indicators ('EST' and 'EDT'). But that becomes tricky since you have to figure out whether the time is during Daylight Saving Time or not, first. You would have to look at using putenv and getenv to set or get the "TZ" environment variable.

 

As to storing the date/time in the database. This can be problematic. There is no way to tell what timezone is associated with a DATE or DATETIME column in the database. The database server itself has a default timezone setting which is used as the "assumed" timezone of any DATETIME column. If this setting is changed, or you move to another server (in a different timezone), your DATETIME columns take on a different meaning. I always recommend storing dates and date-times as UTC values and applying the timezone on the front-end. If you are thinking about using different timezones for different rows of the same table, STOP NOW! That will just create a massive mess that you will never figure out later.

 

If you just want to get past echoing out the time:

echo date('Y-m-d H:m:s', strtotime(date('Y-m-d H:m:s') . ' EST'));
// OR
echo date('Y-m-d H:m:s', strtotime(date('Y-m-d H:m:s') . ' EDT'));

[phppup]

Well, i plugged in a TIME charachter that's NEW to 5.1 and it did NOT work.  The one for 4.1 did okay though, so, being as I'm too lazy to check the server info, I'm gonna say it's 4.1

 

Meanwhile, I know the server and DB is on California time. 

 

Gosh, I'll have to dig up the code I once wrote that simply added 3 hours to the time (unless someone has it handy).  If I remember correctly, I had to add it in a multiple of seconds or minutes (like 3 x 60x 60).  Oh well, I have BIGGER issues with the damn database... LOL.

[kicken]

Well, i plugged in a TIME charachter that's NEW to 5.1 and it did NOT work.  The one for 4.1 did okay though, so, being as I'm too lazy to check the server info, I'm gonna say it's 4.1

 

You shouldn't just guess.  Find out for sure by calling the phpinfo() function, it will tell you all the details about your environment including version numbers.

 

If you are on a PHP4 setup, you should seriously consider moving somewhere else or upgrading to PHP5 (5.2 minimum, 5.3 preferably)

[DavidAM]

or

echo 'Current PHP version: ' . phpversion();

 

Adding 3 hours is a hack. There are two hours during the year when that will produce the wrong results. And if/when you move to a different server, if it is in a different timezone, your code will be wrong.