How to Subtract Minutes

Question

I want to send a reminder email.I don't want to use cron on Linux/Unix/BSD box or Scheduled Tasks on Windows.

I'm trying to subtract 15 minutes from the current time.

here is my code so far (doesn't work):

$days   = date("j",time());
$months = date("n",time());
$years  = date("Y",time());
$hours  = date("G",time());
$mins   = (date("i",time()));
$secs   = date("s",time());
$mins   = $mins-15;

score 58 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:06

58

To subtract 15 minutes from the current time, you can use strtotime():

$newTime = strtotime('-15 minutes');
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $newTime);

answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:06

MrCode

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Strongly advise this solution, much more elegant and expresive. – Andreyco Jul 18 '13 at 08:08

score 54 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:07

54

Change the date into a timestamp (in seconds) then minus 15 minutes (in seconds) and then convert back to a date:

$date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
$time = strtotime($date);
$time = $time - (15 * 60);
$date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $time);

answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:07

Thomas Clayson

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score 41 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:07

41

You can use DateInterval

$date = new DateTime();
$interval = new DateInterval("PT15M");
$interval->invert = 1;
$date->add($interval);
echo $date->format("c") . "\n";

answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:07

DevZer0

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This solution also will be better if you have timezone specified as part of the DateTime object. – dchayka Jun 19 '17 at 21:51
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Much more readable creation of the `DateInterval` suggested [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/6351113/878514): `$interval = DateInterval::createFromDateString('-15 minutes');` – fracz Apr 06 '18 at 23:07

Adil Abbasi · Answer 4 · 2018-02-02T05:17:29.367

25

you can try this as well,

$dateTimeMinutesAgo = new DateTime("15 minutes ago");
$dateTimeMinutesAgo = $dateTimeMinutesAgo->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");

edited Feb 02 '18 at 05:17

answered Feb 10 '16 at 19:36

Adil Abbasi

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Extremely straightforward. Should be the accepted answer. – undefined Feb 01 '18 at 11:48

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:05

8

How about substracting the 15 minutes from time() before converting it?

$time = time() - (15 * 60);

And then use $time instead of time() in your code.

answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:05

eX0du5

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score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:10

6

$currentTime = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$before15mins = strtotime('-15 minutes');
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $before15mins);

answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:10

zkanoca

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score 6 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 31 '21 at 11:16

6

You can also use strtotime function to subtract days, hours and/or seconds from current time.

echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('-15 minutes'));

edited Jul 31 '21 at 11:16

Haritsinh Gohil

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answered Jun 23 '20 at 16:25

Farhat Aziz

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Kshitiz · Answer 8 · 2017-11-10T08:54:55.247

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Following is the way you can add days / hours / minutes / sec to current time

  $addInterval = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime("+$days days $hours hours $minute minute $sec second", strtotime(currentTime)));

edited Nov 10 '17 at 08:54

answered Mar 28 '14 at 06:45

Kshitiz

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score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 26 '19 at 05:14

3

You can also use DateInterval object

<?php
    $date = new DateTime('Y-m-d H:i:s');
    $date->sub(new DateInterval('PT10H30S'));
    echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');?>

answered Feb 26 '19 at 05:14

Sintu Roy

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Maybe add some sort of explanation on what the lines do? For newbies that's not clear – Erenor Paz May 26 '21 at 10:49

score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Jul 18 '13 at 08:08

2

Try using

$min = time() - 900; //900 seconds = 15 minutes

edited Jul 18 '13 at 08:08

zkanoca

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answered Jul 18 '13 at 08:06

Paul Wright

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score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Apr 24 '20 at 06:58

To subtract 15 minutes you can do:

date('Y-m-d H:i:s', (time() - 60 * 15));

You can replace 15 with the number of minutes you want.

In case you're looking to subtract seconds you can simply do:

date('Y-m-d H:i:s', (time() - 10));

In this way you'll subtract 10 seconds.

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 09 '21 at 08:41

1

If you have only time value than below will be useful

// Your time
$time = '12:15:00';

// Returned value '12:00:00'
$newTime = date('H:i:s', strtotime($time) - (15*60));

answered Nov 09 '21 at 08:41

Mehdi .H Jaff

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score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Aug 03 '23 at 08:30

1

To remove 5 minutes to a DateTime, i use :

$dateTime->modify("-5 minutes");

answered Aug 03 '23 at 08:30

GuidN

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Oct 15 '21 at 08:26

0

I know this question is outdated but i just want to share how i did it in easy way

$current = new DateTime("10 minutes ago", new DateTimeZone('Asia/Manila') );

echo $current->format("Y-m-d H:i:s");

answered Oct 15 '21 at 08:26

knhrvs

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score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Aug 11 '23 at 16:27

0

Working with DateTime is getting simpler in PHP. These are sample but you can try more

$dateTime->modify('-2 minutes');
$dateTime->modify('+2 minutes');
$dateTime->modify('+2 days');
$dateTime->modify('+2 years');

answered Aug 11 '23 at 16:27

Solomon Tesfaye

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score -1 · Answer 16 · answered Aug 27 '19 at 09:23

-1

//To Get Current DateTime
$currentDate = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");

//To Get Current DateTime - 15Min
$oldDate = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", strtotime($currentDate) - (15 * 60));

echo $currentDate;
echo $oldDate;

answered Aug 27 '19 at 09:23

Rahul Shukla

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Is there any good reason to duplicate the existing answers? And why don't you use `DateTime` for this, providing a more readable code? – Nico Haase Aug 27 '19 at 10:30

How to Subtract Minutes

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