13

I've seen a few questions about this but not a clear answer... strtotime() will use the default timezone set for PHP when converting the string to a unix timestamp.

However, I want to convert a string to unix timestamp in UTC. Since there is no parameter for doing so, how can this be done?

The string I'm trying to convert is: 2011-10-27T20:23:39, which is already in UTC. I want to represent that as a unix timestamp also in UTC.

Thank you

Brian
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  • Also consider using `new DateTimeZone('UTC');`, see http://stackoverflow.com/a/34651091/1066234 – Avatar Sep 13 '16 at 11:20

3 Answers3

22

I realize this question is very old, but I found another option that can be helpful. Instead of setting and then reverting php's time zone, you can specify the timezone as a part of the string you pass to strtotime like so:

echo date_default_timezone_get();
output: America/Chicago

echo gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('2011-10-27T20:23:39'));
output: 2011-10-28 01:23:39

echo gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('2011-10-27T20:23:39 America/Chicago'));
output: 2011-10-28 01:23:39

echo gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('2011-10-27T20:23:39 UTC'));
output 2011-10-27 20:23:39

Note: I am on PHP 5.5.9, but this should work in any php version.

Eric Seastrand
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    This is easier but you have to watch out for user input. If you just sending in what a user has typed you never know if they are going to include the timezone or something that will mess the string up. – Paul Hutchinson Jul 29 '16 at 18:36
10

Set the system default timezone before making the strtotime call:

date_default_timezone_set('UTC');
echo strtotime('2011-10-27T20:23:39')."\n";

// Proof:
print_r(getdate(strtotime('2011-10-27T20:23:39')));

// IMPORTANT: It's possible that you will want to
// restore the previous system timezone value here.
// It would need to have been saved with
// date_default_timezone_get().

See it in action.

Jon
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    Would that cause issues with the rest of the script though? I guess I could set it back afterwards? – Brian Oct 28 '11 at 14:47
  • @Brian: It could cause issues, yes. But as long as you set it back there will be no problem. – Jon Oct 28 '11 at 14:49
3

Both other answers are really fine. As I have the same issue, I want to offer a third option.

$utc = new DateTimeZone('UTC');
$dt = new DateTime('2011-10-27T20:23:39', $utc);
var_dump($dt->format('U'));

gives string(10) "1319747019"

rabudde
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