What are the best practices for handling date and time values in PHP, especially when interacting with databases?

When handling date and time values in PHP, it is important to ensure consistency between PHP and the database to avoid any discrepancies or errors. It is recommended to use the DateTime class in PHP for date and time manipulation, as it provides a wide range of methods for working with dates and times. When interacting with databases, it is best practice to store date and time values in a standardized format, such as the ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS), to ensure compatibility across different systems. 

// Example of handling date and time values in PHP using DateTime class

// Create a new DateTime object with the current date and time
$now = new DateTime();

// Format the DateTime object to a standardized format
$formatted_date = $now->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

// Insert the formatted date into a database using PDO
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO table_name (date_column) VALUES (:date)");
$stmt->bindParam(':date', $formatted_date);
$stmt->execute();

Keywords

DateTime strtotime date_format TIMESTAMP timezone

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