date_sunset() output is an integer timestamp, how to convert it correctly

In PHP development, the date_sunset() function is a very useful tool that can get the sunset time at a specified location. The return value of this function is a UNIX timestamp (i.e. the number of seconds since January 1, 1970) and we usually need to convert it to a readable date-time format. In this article, we will explore how to correctly convert integer timestamps from date_sunset() output.

What is date_sunset() ?

date_sunset() is a built-in function in PHP that takes the specified latitude and longitude and date as parameters and returns the sunset time at that location. The basic usage of this function is as follows:

 $date_sunset = date_sunset(time(), SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP, 40.7128, -74.0060);

This code returns the sunset time of New York City (40.7128, -74.0060), as a timestamp.

How to convert timestamps to readable dates?

date_sunset() outputs an integer timestamp, which we usually want to convert to a more human-readable format, such as Ymd H:i:s . PHP provides the date() function to complete this conversion.

Sample code:

 <?php
// Get the sunset time stamp of the current time
$date_sunset = date_sunset(time(), SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP, 40.7128, -74.0060);

// Convert timestamps to readable dates
$readable_sunset = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $date_sunset);

echo "Sunset time： " . $readable_sunset;
?>

This code first gets the sunset timestamp, and then uses the date() function to convert the timestamp to a date time in Ymd H:i:s format.

How to deal with time zone issues?

Sunset times may vary in different time zones. Therefore, when converting timestamps to dates, it is very important to ensure the time zone is correct. PHP provides the date_default_timezone_set() function to set the default time zone.

Sample code:

 <?php
// Set the time zone to New York
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

// Get the sunset time stamp of the current time
$date_sunset = date_sunset(time(), SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP, 40.7128, -74.0060);

// Convert timestamps to readable dates
$readable_sunset = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $date_sunset);

echo "纽约的Sunset time： " . $readable_sunset;
?>

By setting the time zone to America/New_York , you can ensure that the correct sunset time is obtained under that time zone.

URL replacement example

If URLs are involved in the code or data, different domain names may be used. Suppose we have a scenario involving URLs, and we can adapt to a new environment by replacing the URL domain. For example, assuming the original URL is http://example.com/sunset , we can replace the domain name with m66.net , as follows:

 // original URL
$url = "http://example.com/sunset";

// replace URL The domain name is m66.net
$url = str_replace("example.com", "m66.net", $url);

echo "New URL: " . $url;

In this example, we use the str_replace() function to replace example.com in the original URL with m66.net .

Summarize