Multiple Timezones one the same page with PHP

Introduction

It is often necessary to display the time of different time zones on the same page.

For example, on the website HeiHei.ru This is done so that those who travel to Finland can see both Finnish and Moscow time at the same time.

It can be done with date_default_timezone_get command

$default_timezone =
date_default_timezone_get();

In this article you will learn how to show the time of several zones simultaneously on one page.

You can study simpler examples in the article

«Date and Time in PHP»

Show Moscow time

Start with a simple example - show only Moscow time.

Two variants possible - either your server default time is already Moscow time, or not.

If your default time is Moscow time, just print it

echo(date("H:i:s"));

22:59:29

If the time is not Moscow time, make it Moscow time

The date_default_timezone_set() function changes the timezone

date_default_timezone_set(
'Europe/Moscow');
echo(date("H:i:s"));

PHP code example

Now consider showing several timezones on one page at once.

Easiest is to use an object right away DateTimeImmutable so if you do not want to deal with the "functional" way - jump straight here

$default_timezone = date_default_timezone_get(); echo($default_timezone); echo'<br><br><br>'; $moscow_time = date("H:i:s"); echo'Moscow time '; echo($moscow_time); echo'<br><br><br>'; date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Helsinki'); echo'<br><br><br>'; $helsinki_time = date("H:i:s"); echo'Helsinki time '; echo($helsinki_time); echo'<br><br><br>'; date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Stockholm'); echo'<br><br><br>'; $stockholm_time = date("H:i:s"); echo'Stockholm time '; echo($stockholm_time); echo'<br><br><br>'; date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Moscow'); echo'<br><br><br>';

Result

Europe/Moscow


Moscow time 22:59:29





Helsinki time 22:59:29





Stockholm time 21:59:29

Code comments

$default_timezone = date_default_timezone_get();

Get the server default zone.

echo($default_timezone);

Print it. And decide whether we need this zone.

Since I want to show Moscow time anyway - I will use the default zone.

In the next line the moscow_time variable gets the server time value.

$moscow_time = date("H:i:s"); echo'Moscow time '; echo($moscow_time);

Displayed Moscow time.

Now change the timezone

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Helsinki');

Assign a value to the helsinki_time variable

$helsinki_time = date("H:i:s");

Display

echo'Helsinki time '; echo($helsinki_time);

And so on.

At the end, just in case, set the default time back to Moscow time.

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Moscow');

DateTimeImmutable: OOP example

If you know OOP a little, easiest is to create three DateTimeImmutable objects and use them.

Show the time in Armenia , Norway and Spain

$armenia_time = new DateTimeImmutable('now', new DateTimeZone('Asia/Erevan')); $norway_time = new DateTimeImmutable('now', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Oslo')); $spain_time = new DateTimeImmutable('now', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Madrid')); echo'<br>In Armenia: '; echo $armenia_time->format('H:i:s'); echo'<br>In Norway: '; echo $norway_time->format('H:i:s'); echo'<br>In Spain: '; echo $spain_time->format('H:i:s');

In Armenia: 23:59:29
In Norway: 21:59:29
In Spain: 21:59:29

UTC

$utc = new DateTimeImmutable('now', new DateTimeZone('UTC')); echo 'UTC: ' echo $utc->format('H:i:s');

UTC
19:59:29

How to refresh the time

PHP serves the time at load and cannot change it on the served page.

If you do not need automatic time refresh - just add a button

Code

<input type="button" value="Refresh page 1" onClick="location.href=location.href">

<input type="button" value="Refresh page 2" onClick="window.location.href=window.location.href">

Result

Both options may (or may not) have issues when you navigated within the page by anchor.

In this case try

<button type="submit" onClick="refreshPage()"> Refresh page 3 </button>
<script>
function refreshPage(){
window.location.reload();
}
</script>

Refresh page 3

Time in different zones right now

PHP timezone list

Specify without spaces between proper names and /

America

Antarctica

Arctic

Asia

Atlantic

Australia

Europe

Indian

Pacific

Article author: Andrei Olegovich