Subtract 2 minutes from a unix timestamp

Question

Could someone assist me on a timestamp issue.. how can I subtract 2 minutes from this timestamp?

    echo 'Settings from database (octopus_import_employees):';
    $settings = get_settings('octopus_import_employees');
    var_dump($settings);

    echo 'Timestamp in human format (Started timestamp):';
    $started = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $settings['started']);
    var_dump($started);

var_dump($settings); gets an unix timestamp such as: 342534534

var_dump($started); converts it to a readable format such as: 2019-11-08 05:08:58.

All help would be appreciated.

342534534 this is dummy timestemp ? – Yasin Patel Nov 08 '19 at 05:27 — Yasin Patel, Nov 08 '19 at 05:27

Yasin Patel · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-08T06:13:34.980

3

Timestamps are in seconds so you can subtract 120 seconds (i.e. 2 minutes) from it

$time = $settings['started'] - 120;

echo 'Timestamp in human format (Started timestamp):';
$started = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $time);
var_dump($started);

edited Nov 08 '19 at 06:13

answered Nov 08 '19 at 05:30

Yasin Patel

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Nick · Answer 2 · 2019-11-08T11:05:53.327

@YasinPatel solution is definitely the simplest for your situation. In situations where you don't have a unix timestamp input, one of these methods might be easier to use.

You could create a DateTime object from your timestamp using date_create_from_format and subtract 2 minutes from it, using either sub or modify:

$started = date_create_from_format('U', $settings['started']);
$started->sub(new DateInterval('PT2M'));
echo $started->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

or

$started = date_create_from_format('U', $settings['started']);
$started->modify('-2 minutes');
echo $started->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

Demo on 3v4l.org

Thanks so much @Nick, let me give this a try. – Sema Nov 08 '19 at 05:28 — Sema, Nov 08 '19 at 05:28

Subtract 2 minutes from a unix timestamp

2 Answers2