Why does call to now() fail in php

Question

Why does call to now() or current_timestamp() fail in simple php script?

<?php
try {
    echo "Now: " . CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() . "<br>";
    //echo "Time: " . time() . "<br>";

    echo "Done";
}
catch(Exception $e) {
    echo 'Message: ' .$e->getMessage();
}
?>

The script returns a blank page, and no error is reported. time() worked fine.

What is `now()` and `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()`? Where are they defined? — zerkms, Jun 22 '16 at 23:15
I see. I read this post and it mentions those functions: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19246309/mysql-insert-current-date-time So what file should I include? — RaelB, Jun 22 '16 at 23:16
That uestion is about SQL. In SQL you can use that. For PHP read php.net/date — johannes, Jun 22 '16 at 23:20
That question doesn't have a `php` tag and PHP isn't anywhere on the page. — AbraCadaver, Jun 22 '16 at 23:23

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

5

NOW() and CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() are MySQL functions, not PHP functions.

As this link suggests, the function you are looking for is date("Y-m-d H:i:s"). Here is the documentation

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

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answered Jun 22 '16 at 23:19

Ulad Kasach

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score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

2

Your error should be something like

Call to undefined function CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP is a synonym for CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() and NOW() and they are SQL functions, from what I know (maybe they also have meaning in other contexts).

As such, if that format is what you are looking for just do:

date("Y-m-d H:i:s");//like 2014-11-22 12:45:34

Also check this other SO question

edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Community

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answered Jun 22 '16 at 23:23

M.M

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Any idea why I get no error message? I tried to add `error_reporting(E_ALL);` at top of script and still just get a blank page – RaelB Jun 22 '16 at 23:31
1

@RaelB have you included `ini_set('display_errors', 1);`? – Ulad Kasach Jun 22 '16 at 23:34
Thanks that solved it for me. I can see that the server default is 0 (off) – RaelB Jun 22 '16 at 23:42

Why does call to now() fail in php

2 Answers2