What are some potential pitfalls of using Unix timestamps in PHP for date and time calculations?

One potential pitfall of using Unix timestamps in PHP for date and time calculations is that Unix timestamps are based on UTC time, which may lead to unexpected results when working with time zones. To avoid this issue, it's important to always set the correct time zone when working with Unix timestamps in PHP. 

// Set the default time zone to use
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

// Get the current Unix timestamp
$unixTimestamp = time();

// Convert the Unix timestamp to a human-readable date in the specified time zone
$dateTime = new DateTime("@$unixTimestamp");
$dateTime->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/New_York'));
echo $dateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

Keywords

Unix timestamps PHP date calculations time calculations timezone conversion

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