Date/Time Functions
PHP Manual

date_default_timezone_set

Sets the default timezone used by all date/time functions in a script

Description

bool date_default_timezone_set ( string $timezone_identifier )

date_default_timezone_set sets the default timezone used by all date/time functions.

Note:

Since PHP 5.1.0 (when the date/time functions were rewritten), every call to a date/time function will generate a E_NOTICE if the timezone isn't valid, and/or a E_WARNING message if using the system settings or the TZ environment variable.

Instead of using this function to set the default timezone in your script, you can also use the INI setting date.timezone to set the default timezone.

Parameters

timezone_identifier

The timezone identifier, like UTC or Europe/Lisbon. The list of valid identifiers is available in the List of Supported Timezones.

Return Values

This function returns FALSE if the timezone_identifier isn't valid, or TRUE otherwise.

Examples

Example #1 Getting the default timezone

<?php
date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles');

$script_tz = date_default_timezone_get();

if (strcmp($script_tz, ini_get('date.timezone'))){
    echo 'Script timezone differs from ini-set timezone.';
} else {
    echo 'Script timezone and ini-set timezone match.';
}
?>

Changelog

Version Description
5.3.0 Now throws E_WARNING rather than E_STRICT.
5.1.2 The function started to validate the timezone_identifier parameter.

See Also