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Date Helper

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The Date Helper file contains functions that help you work with dates.

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Loading this Helper

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This helper is loaded using the following code:

-$this->load->helper('date'); - - -

The following functions are available:

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now()

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Returns the current time as a Unix timestamp, referenced either to your server's local time or GMT, based on the "time reference" -setting in your config file. If you do not intend to set your master time reference to GMT (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. -

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mdate()

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This function is identical to PHPs date() function, except that it lets you -use MySQL style date codes, where each code letter is preceded with a percent sign: %Y %m %d etc.

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The benefit of doing dates this way is that you don't have to worry about escaping any characters that -are not date codes, as you would normally have to do with the date() function. Example:

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$datestring = "Year: %Y Month: %m Day: %d - %h:%i %a";

-$time = time();

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-echo mdate($datestring, $time);

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If a timestamp is not included in the second parameter the current time will be used.

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standard_date()

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Lets you generate a date string in one of several standardized formats. Example:

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-$format = 'DATE_RFC822';

-$time = time();

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-echo standard_date($format, $time);
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The first parameter must contain the format, the second parameter must contain the date as a Unix timestamp.

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Supported formats:

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Constant	Description	Example
DATE_ATOM	Atom	2005-08-15T16:13:03+0000
DATE_COOKIE	HTTP Cookies	Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 UTC
DATE_ISO8601	ISO-8601	2005-08-14T16:13:03+00:00
DATE_RFC822	RFC 822	Sun, 14 Aug 05 16:13:03 UTC
DATE_RFC850	RFC 850	Sunday, 14-Aug-05 16:13:03 UTC
DATE_RFC1036	RFC 1036	Sunday, 14-Aug-05 16:13:03 UTC
DATE_RFC1123	RFC 1123	Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 UTC
DATE_RFC2822	RFC 2822	Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 +0000
DATE_RSS	RSS	Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 UTC
DATE_W3C	World Wide Web Consortium	2005-08-14T16:13:03+0000

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local_to_gmt()

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Takes a Unix timestamp as input and returns it as GMT. Example:

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$now = time();

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-$gmt = local_to_gmt($now);

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gmt_to_local()

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Takes a Unix timestamp (referenced to GMT) as input, and converts it to a localized timestamp based on the -timezone and Daylight Saving time submitted. Example:

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-$timestamp = '1140153693';

-$timezone  = 'UM8';

-$daylight_saving = TRUE;

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-echo gmt_to_local($timestamp, $timezone, $daylight_saving);

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Note: For a list of timezones see the reference at the bottom of this page.

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mysql_to_unix()

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Takes a MySQL Timestamp as input and returns it as Unix. Example:

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$mysql = '20061124092345';

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-$unix = mysql_to_unix($mysql);

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unix_to_human()

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Takes a Unix timestamp as input and returns it in a human readable format with this prototype:

- -YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS AM/PM - -

This can be useful if you need to display a date in a form field for submission.

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The time can be formatted with or without seconds, and it can be set to European or US format. If only -the timestamp is submitted it will return the time without seconds formatted for the U.S. Examples:

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$now = time();

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-echo unix_to_human($now); // U.S. time, no seconds

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-echo unix_to_human($now, TRUE, 'us'); // U.S. time with seconds

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-echo unix_to_human($now, TRUE, 'eu'); // Euro time with seconds

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human_to_unix()

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The opposite of the above function. Takes a "human" time as input and returns it as Unix. This function is -useful if you accept "human" formatted dates submitted via a form. Returns FALSE (boolean) if -the date string passed to it is not formatted as indicated above. Example:

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$now = time();

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-$human = unix_to_human($now);

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-$unix = human_to_unix($human);

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nice_date()

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This function can take a number poorly-formed date formats and convert them into something useful. It also accepts well-formed dates.

The function will return a Unix timestamp by default. You can, optionally, pass a format string (the same type as the PHP date function accepts) as the second parameter. Example:

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$bad_time = 199605

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-// Should Produce: 1996-05-01

-$better_time = nice_date($bad_time,'Y-m-d');

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-$bad_time = 9-11-2001

-// Should Produce: 2001-09-11

-$better_time = nice_date($human,'Y-m-d');

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timespan()

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Formats a unix timestamp so that is appears similar to this:

- -1 Year, 10 Months, 2 Weeks, 5 Days, 10 Hours, 16 Minutes - -

The first parameter must contain a Unix timestamp. The second parameter must contain a -timestamp that is greater that the first timestamp. If the second parameter empty, the current time will be used. The most common purpose -for this function is to show how much time has elapsed from some point in time in the past to now. Example:

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$post_date = '1079621429';

-$now = time();

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-echo timespan($post_date, $now);

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Note: The text generated by this function is found in the following language file: language/<your_lang>/date_lang.php

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days_in_month()

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Returns the number of days in a given month/year. Takes leap years into account. Example:

-echo days_in_month(06, 2005); - -

If the second parameter is empty, the current year will be used.

timezones()

Takes a timezone reference (for a list of valid timezones, see the "Timezone Reference" below) and returns the number of hours offset from UTC.

echo timezones('UM5');

This function is useful when used with timezone_menu().

timezone_menu()

Generates a pull-down menu of timezones, like this one:

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This menu is useful if you run a membership site in which your users are allowed to set their local timezone value.

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The first parameter lets you set the "selected" state of the menu. For example, to set Pacific time as the default you will do this:

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Please see the timezone reference below to see the values of this menu.

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The second parameter lets you set a CSS class name for the menu.

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Note: The text contained in the menu is found in the following language file: language/<your_lang>/date_lang.php

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Timezone Reference

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The following table indicates each timezone and its location.

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Time Zone	Location
UM12	(UTC - 12:00) Enitwetok, Kwajalien
UM11	(UTC - 11:00) Nome, Midway Island, Samoa
UM10	(UTC - 10:00) Hawaii
UM9	(UTC - 9:00) Alaska
UM8	(UTC - 8:00) Pacific Time
UM7	(UTC - 7:00) Mountain Time
UM6	(UTC - 6:00) Central Time, Mexico City
UM5	(UTC - 5:00) Eastern Time, Bogota, Lima, Quito
UM4	(UTC - 4:00) Atlantic Time, Caracas, La Paz
UM25	(UTC - 3:30) Newfoundland
UM3	(UTC - 3:00) Brazil, Buenos Aires, Georgetown, Falkland Is.
UM2	(UTC - 2:00) Mid-Atlantic, Ascention Is., St Helena
UM1	(UTC - 1:00) Azores, Cape Verde Islands
UTC	(UTC) Casablanca, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Lisbon, Monrovia
UP1	(UTC + 1:00) Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, Rome
UP2	(UTC + 2:00) Kaliningrad, South Africa, Warsaw
UP3	(UTC + 3:00) Baghdad, Riyadh, Moscow, Nairobi
UP25	(UTC + 3:30) Tehran
UP4	(UTC + 4:00) Adu Dhabi, Baku, Muscat, Tbilisi
UP35	(UTC + 4:30) Kabul
UP5	(UTC + 5:00) Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent
UP45	(UTC + 5:30) Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, New Delhi
UP6	(UTC + 6:00) Almaty, Colomba, Dhaka
UP7	(UTC + 7:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta
UP8	(UTC + 8:00) Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Singapore, Taipei
UP9	(UTC + 9:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Seoul, Tokyo, Yakutsk
UP85	(UTC + 9:30) Adelaide, Darwin
UP10	(UTC + 10:00) Melbourne, Papua New Guinea, Sydney, Vladivostok
UP11	(UTC + 11:00) Magadan, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands
UP12	(UTC + 12:00) Auckland, Wellington, Fiji, Marshall Island

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CodeIgniter User Guide Version 2.0.3

Date Helper

Loading this Helper

now()

mdate()

standard_date()

local_to_gmt()

gmt_to_local()

mysql_to_unix()

unix_to_human()

human_to_unix()

nice_date()

timespan()

days_in_month()

timezones()

timezone_menu()

Timezone Reference