Localtime function in PHP to get date , time data from server

Read local time parts

localtime() returns numeric date and time parts for a Unix timestamp. Pass true to receive an associative array with named keys.

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kolkata');
$parts = localtime(time(), true);
echo $parts['tm_hour'] . ':' . $parts['tm_min'];

This current example appears first; the detailed examples below are retained and modernized for comparison and additional use cases.

We can get local time with date, month year etc. ( array output ) by using localtime() function in PHP.
Here is the syntax.

localtime();

Example code

print_r(localtime());

The output of above code is here

Array
(
    [0] => 56
    [1] => 49
    [2] => 2
    [3] => 30
    [4] => 8
    [5] => 126
    [6] => 3
    [7] => 272
    [8] => 0
)

We can get better output by using is_associative to true. We will get a set of keys and associated data. Here is an example.

print_r(localtime(time(),true));

The output is here.

Array
(
    [tm_sec] => 56
    [tm_min] => 49
    [tm_hour] => 2
    [tm_mday] => 30
    [tm_mon] => 8
    [tm_year] => 126
    [tm_wday] => 3
    [tm_yday] => 272
    [tm_isdst] => 0
)

We can change the time zone set and check the return like this.

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kolkata');
print_r(localtime(time(),true));

The ouput is here

Array
(
    [tm_sec] => 56
    [tm_min] => 19
    [tm_hour] => 8
    [tm_mday] => 30
    [tm_mon] => 8
    [tm_year] => 126
    [tm_wday] => 3
    [tm_yday] => 272
    [tm_isdst] => 0
)

Refresh this page and see how the data is changing

Example: Formatting Local Time

$time = localtime(time(), true);
echo "Year: " . ($time['tm_year'] + 1900) . ", Month: " . ($time['tm_mon'] + 1) . ", Day: " . $time['tm_mday'];
echo "<br>";
echo "Hour : " . ($time['tm_hour'] ) . ", Minutes: " . ($time['tm_min']) . ", Sec: " . $time['tm_sec'];

output

Year: 2026, Month: 9, Day: 30
Hour : 8, Minutes: 19, Sec: 56

Example: Getting Time for a Specific Timestamp

$timestamp = mktime(14, 30, 0, 7, 4, 2025);
$time = localtime($timestamp, true);
print_r($time);

Explanation:

Formatting Local Time: Shows how to retrieve and format the current local time.

Handling Timestamps: Demonstrates how to get local time information from a specific timestamp.

We can set different time zones by using date_default_timezone_set() and check the local time.

date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');
$time = localtime(time(), true);
echo 'Year: ' . ($time['tm_year'] + 1900) . ', Month: ' . ($time['tm_mon'] + 1) . ', Day: ' . $time['tm_mday'];
echo '<br>';
echo 'Hour : ' . ($time['tm_hour'] ) . ', Minutes: ' . ($time['tm_min']) . ', Sec: ' . $time['tm_sec'];

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kolkata');
$time = localtime(time(), true);
echo '<br><br>';
echo 'Year: ' . ($time['tm_year'] + 1900) . ', Month: ' . ($time['tm_mon'] + 1) . ', Day: ' . $time['tm_mday'];
echo '<br>';
echo 'Hour : ' . ($time['tm_hour'] ) . ', Minutes: ' . ($time['tm_min']) . ', Sec: ' . $time['tm_sec'];

Output is here

Year: 2026, Month: 9, Day: 29
Hour : 22, Minutes: 49, Sec: 56

Year: 2026, Month: 9, Day: 30
Hour : 8, Minutes: 19, Sec: 56

PHP Date Functions GMT/UTC date/time Date formats for Date()

Subhendu Mohapatra

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localtime() : returns an array with details about the current local time

Read local time parts

Example: Formatting Local Time

Example: Getting Time for a Specific Timestamp

Subhendu Mohapatra