Detailed Guide to Setting PHP Timezone to UTC+6 (West 6 Zone)

What is a Timezone?

A timezone is defined based on the time difference from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC, established at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, UK, serves as the global time standard. The Earth is divided into multiple timezones, each having a fixed offset from UTC.

How to Set Timezone in PHP?

PHP provides the date_default_timezone_set() function to set the timezone. This function requires a valid timezone identifier, which must be compliant with the IANA Time Zone Database. You can retrieve all available timezone identifiers using the following code:

$timezones = DateTimeZone::listIdentifiers();
foreach ($timezones as $timezone) {
    echo $timezone . "\n";
}

How to Set the Timezone to UTC+6 (West 6 Zone)?

In PHP, you can set the timezone to UTC+6 using the date_default_timezone_set() function as shown below:

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Dhaka');

The Asia/Dhaka timezone corresponds to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, which is UTC+6.

When Should You Use date_default_timezone_set()?

If your server already has the correct default timezone configured, you generally do not need to set the timezone explicitly in your code. However, in cases such as migrating your scripts to a new server or working with multiple scripts that may have conflicting timezone settings, it is recommended to use date_default_timezone_set() to ensure accurate time-related operations.

Summary

PHP’s date_default_timezone_set() function allows you to easily set the timezone for your application by passing a valid timezone identifier. Proper timezone configuration is essential for accurate time handling in development and maintenance of time-sensitive applications.