Get Current Date and Time

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Get Current Date and Time.
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Creates a current timestamp with an explicit timezone and returns formats
 * commonly needed by controllers, logs, and user-facing pages.
 *
 * @param string $timezone_name Valid PHP timezone name.
 * @return array Current date/time values in multiple safe formats.
 */
function ogSnippetGetCurrentDateAndTime(string $timezone_name): array {
	$timezone_name = trim($timezone_name);

	if ($timezone_name === '') {
		$timezone_name = 'UTC';
	}

	if (in_array($timezone_name, timezone_identifiers_list(), true) === false) {
		$timezone_name = 'UTC';
	}

	$timezone = new DateTimeZone($timezone_name);
	$current_time = new DateTimeImmutable('now', $timezone);

	return array(
		'timezone' => $timezone_name,
		'display' => $current_time->format('F j, Y g:i A T'),
		'iso_8601' => $current_time->format(DateTimeInterface::ATOM),
		'database' => $current_time->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
		'unix_timestamp' => $current_time->getTimestamp()
	);
}

$mission_clock = ogSnippetGetCurrentDateAndTime('America/New_York');

echo 'Stargate mission clock: '.$mission_clock['display'];

echo "
";

echo 'Database value: '.$mission_clock['database'];