Comparing Custom Timestamps

[Noteleklabs]

Hullo!
I am currently working on a system where I have to check if a certain timestamp is within a certain number of hours (this is also a variable) from now. I have no issues doing this normally, but using the method that I am, If its 1 am, and I ask for all entries from 4 hours ago, I'll get back an error for an invalid timestamp. Any help?

[mlseim]

First, you'll want to nail-down a timezone.
Your website uses your server time, and you might not be living near your server.

Everyone using your site will be using your timezone. But remember people in Australia, for example, are like 15 hours ahead of you. So you have to reference everything from one timezone. Let's say you have a coupon that expires at midnight your time. Someone in Australia will be perplexed that it expired too early. For them, it should still be valid, but it's not because they are 15 hours ahead of you.

So what do you mean by all entries 4 hours ago? When you visit your site, or when Aussie Arnold visits your site?

<?php
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

You said a "certain timestamp" ... what format is it in? UNIX timestamp, or a 'human-readable' timestamp?

This would be a UNIX timestamp ...

$now=time();

That gives you a UNIX timestamp, an integer like this: 1410468053

[Noteleklabs]

Woops, forgot to close this thread, I found a waaaay simpler solution, using the strtotime(), I could just compare strtotime($now) <= strtotime("-4 hours") and get a much simpler result. Just had to use another function to reformat timestamps to a standardised format.

I do however appreciate your speedy and simple solution.