What are the best practices for handling time-sensitive operations, such as ending auctions at a specific time, in PHP scripts?

When handling time-sensitive operations like ending auctions at a specific time in PHP scripts, it is important to use server-side time to ensure accuracy and prevent manipulation by users. One approach is to store the end time of the auction in a database and regularly check the current server time against this end time to determine if the auction should be closed. 

// Retrieve the end time of the auction from the database
$endTime = strtotime($row['end_time']);

// Get the current server time
$currentTime = time();

// Check if the current time has passed the end time
if ($currentTime >= $endTime) {
    // Close the auction or perform any necessary actions
    // For example: update the auction status in the database
    $updateQuery = "UPDATE auctions SET status = 'closed' WHERE id = $auctionId";
    // Execute the update query
}

Keywords

cron jobs date functions timezones timestamp scheduling

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