Maximum time() | PHP

Question

It's kind of a silly question, but what would be the maximum INT value of a time() and it's future date, e.g.

1st January 2999

Would time() ever get to that value? Going for a large time() value would return this:

Thu 1st Jan 1970 1:00AM

A normal int date

1287320788 - outputs today's date: Sun 17th Oct 2010 2:06PM

But I'm only curious for the biggest int date and the last date.

Answer 1

The last 32-Bit Integer timestamp will be reached January 19, 2038. This is known as the Year 2038 problem.

Answer 2

PHP stores the highest integer number it can represent in the PHP_INT_MAX constant:

date('Y-m-d H:i:s', PHP_INT_MAX); // 2038-01-19 04:14:07

If you want to work with dates beyond that, consider using the DateTime API, e.g.

$dt = new DateTime('1st January 2999');
$dt->add(DateInterval::createFromDateString('+1 day'));
echo $dt->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // 2999-01-02 00:00:00
echo $dt->format('U');           // 32472226800

Answer 3

Remember, the Y2038 problem does not apply on 64-bit systems.