Print the time an hour ago PHP?

To print time an hour ago in PHP, you need to subtract 1 hour from the current time. Use the strtotime() function with a relative time string like '-1 hour' to calculate the past time.

Syntax

date('format', strtotime('-1 hour'));

Example

Here's how to get the time exactly one hour ago ?

<?php
$oneHourAgo = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('-1 hour'));
echo 'One hour ago, the date = ' . $oneHourAgo;
?>

One hour ago, the date = 2020-09-26 17:42:22

Multiple Hours Ago

You can calculate different hours by changing the value ?

<?php
echo "Current time: " . date('H:i:s') . "
";
echo "1 hour ago: " . date('H:i:s', strtotime('-1 hour')) . "
";
echo "2 hours ago: " . date('H:i:s', strtotime('-2 hours')) . "
";
echo "3 hours ago: " . date('H:i:s', strtotime('-3 hours')) . "
";
?>

Current time: 18:42:22
1 hour ago: 17:42:22
2 hours ago: 16:42:22
3 hours ago: 15:42:22

Using DateTime Class

Alternative approach using the modern DateTime class ?

<?php
$datetime = new DateTime();
$datetime->modify('-1 hour');
echo 'One hour ago: ' . $datetime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
?>

One hour ago: 2020-09-26 17:42:22

Conclusion

Use strtotime('-1 hour') with date() for simple calculations, or the DateTime class for more complex date operations. Both methods effectively calculate past times by subtracting hours from the current timestamp.