👀 Views: 40 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-08-26

php datetime timezone PHP

I've searched everywhere and can't find a clear answer. I'm testing a new approach and I'm working with a question with handling DateTime objects in PHP 8.1, particularly when dealing with different time zones. I have a requirement where I need to convert a UTC date string into a specific time zone and then format it for display. However, instead of getting the expected result, I'm working with inconsistent outputs. Here's the code I'm using: ```php $utcDateString = '2023-10-05 14:00:00'; $utcDateTime = new DateTime($utcDateString, new DateTimeZone('UTC')); $targetTimeZone = new DateTimeZone('America/New_York'); $utcDateTime->setTimezone($targetTimeZone); $formattedDate = $utcDateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); ``` When I run this, the output I get is `2023-10-05 10:00:00`. I was expecting `2023-10-05 10:00:00` as New York is UTC-4 hours during daylight saving time, which I thought would be correct, but I'm concerned that the behavior might vary depending on whether or not daylight saving time is in effect. I tried manually adjusting the date based on the current DST rules, but that feels hacky. Is there a better approach to ensure that DateTime handles this correctly? I'm also curious if there's a recommended practice to avoid such issues in the future when working with international date formats and time zones. Any insights would be appreciated! The project is a CLI tool built with Php. Thanks, I really appreciate it! For reference, this is a production microservice. Any pointers in the right direction?