The getOffset Method of the DateTime Class

The getOffset method of the DateTime class returns the timezone offset in seconds relative to GMT (UTC) time. This is useful when working with different time zones. The method does not take any parameters and returns an integer.

Syntax

php$datetime->getOffset();

Example

Let's get the offset for the current time in the Europe/Moscow timezone:

php<?php
  $date = new DateTime('now', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Moscow'));
  $res = $date->getOffset();
  echo $res;
?>

The code execution result (may vary depending on the season):

php10800

Example

Let's compare the offsets for different time zones:

php<?php
  $zones = ['UTC', 'America/New_York', 'Asia/Tokyo'];
  foreach ($zones as $zone) {
    $date = new DateTime('now', new DateTimeZone($zone));
    echo $zone . ': ' . $date->getOffset() . "\n";
  }
?>

The code execution result:

phpUTC: 0
America/New_York: -18000
Asia/Tokyo: 32400

See Also