PHP: Adding years to a timestamp

Question

In PHP given a UTC timestamp I would like to add exactly N number of years. This should take into consideration leap years.

Thank you.

score 62 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '11 at 20:15

62

$newTimestamp = strtotime('+2 years', $timestamp);

Replace "+2 years" as required.

answered Mar 02 '11 at 20:15

Jeff Parker

@NullUserException: Looks pretty obvious that you'd replace `2` with `N`, and that `$timestamp` contains the proper timestamp. Nowhere does it say in Jeff's code that `$timestamp` = now. – Lightness Races in Orbit Mar 02 '11 at 20:19
It's an example ... with the proviso, "replace +2 years as required" :P – Jeff Parker Mar 02 '11 at 20:20

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 02 '11 at 20:15

9

$date = new DateTime();
$date->add(new DateInterval('P10Y'));

adds 10 years (10Y) to "today". DateTime's only in PHP 5.3, though.

answered Mar 02 '11 at 20:15

Marc B

+1, didn't know that one! On a sidenote, do you know some good text/book/tutorial on the new stuff to v5.3? Except official manual. – Czechnology Mar 02 '11 at 20:18
Not offhand. The php site has a good changelog/migration tutorial, though. I tend to avoid PHP books, because they're either hideously out of date, poorly written (e.g. lead you to write very bad insecure code), or just wildly wrong. – Marc B Mar 02 '11 at 20:20
Not fully correct: DateTime is in since 5.2, only DateInterval was added for 5.3. – tobyS Mar 02 '11 at 20:26
This is a good solution, I'm just sorry we don't have php 5.3. – Onema Mar 02 '11 at 20:40
In that case, the strtotime() options in the other answers will work for you. – Marc B Mar 02 '11 at 20:42
what does `P` in `P10Y` stands for? – beginner Mar 09 '16 at 06:46
P stands for "Period" – TomSwift Apr 20 '17 at 19:20

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 05 '12 at 14:04

1

One thing you should consider when you do this.

$newTimestamp = strtotime('+2 years', $timestamp);

This adds up 2 years ( 720 or 721 days). In case you just want to keep the same day and month and add 2 extra years in the timestamp

you have to use mktime.

Example

$timestamp = mktime(0, 0, 0, $month, $day, $year+2);`

answered Jul 05 '12 at 14:04

George D.

Now days you should use a library like Carbon to do all this time/date staff in php. It makes it a joy to work with dates. – George D. Jul 09 '16 at 09:53

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 06 '13 at 13:00

1

$date    = "1998-08-14";

$newdate = strtotime ( '+2 years' , strtotime ( $date ) ) ;
$newdate = date ( 'Y-m-j' , $newdate );

echo $newdate;

echos

2000-08-14

edited Dec 06 '13 at 13:00

msturdy

answered Dec 06 '13 at 11:30

asd

4 Answers4