Assign value to a variable depending on time

[AOD]

How do I assign a value to a variable depending on the time of the day?

For example: If time is between 2am to 4pm, variable = 50.

How can I accomplish this?

Thanks for any help.

[joe_bruin]

use the date function to figure out what time it is.

PHP Code:

<?
  $x = date("G");
  if($x >= 2 && $x < 16) $tvar = 50;
  else $tvar = 0;
?>

[sde]

PHP Code:

<?
// get the current time
$current_time=time();
echo $current_time;

// format time to current hour
// using "G" format for current hour 0-23
$current_hour=date("G",$current_time);
echo "<br>" . $current_hour;

// set variable based on hour
if($current_hour == 14 || $current_hour == 15) {
  $var = 50;
  echo "<br>" . $var;
}
?>

here's a good reference for the date() function
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php

[AOD]

Thanks joe_bruin and sde!

That would get me started.

Err, how do I use the date function to return the value in minutes or seconds? If I want to breakdown the variable assignment in 30-minute intervals for example...

[sde]

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php

look at that link, and ask if you have questions. that has all your info.

[AOD]

I want the date function to return values in seconds or minutes for a day instead of just 0 to 23 (using the "G" format).


Like so:

0 to 1440 (one whole day by the minutes)

0 to 86400 (one whole day by the seconds)


For example between 7:16 am to 7:46 am, variable = 12. The "G" format is inadequate for this.

Any ideas?

[joe_bruin]

basic algebra?

[joe_bruin]

PHP Code:

<?
  eval("\$i = ".date("s + (60 * (i + (60 * G)))").";");
  echo "got $i\n";
?>

[sde]

here's 2 methods:

the first method we'll get the current hour, minutes, and seconds, then do some math to add them together:

PHP Code:

<?
$current_time=time(); 

// set seconds 
$seconds = date("s",$current_time); 

// set minutes 
$minutes = date("i",$current_time); 

// set hours 
$hours = date("H",$current_time); 

// calculate how many seconds in the minutes, and add to seconds 
$seconds = $seconds + ($minutes * 60); 

// calculate how many seconds in the hours, and add to seconds 
$seconds = $seconds + ($hours * 60) * 60; 

echo $seconds;
?>

second method we will get the time of today at midnight, .. then subtract that from the current timestamp:

PHP Code:

<?
// set the midnight date stamp for today
$midnight= date("Y-m-d") . " 0:0:0";

// set the current timestamp
$now=time();

// subtract now from midnight to get total seconds for today
$total_seconds_for_today=$now - strtotime($midnight);

echo $total_seconds_for_today;
?>

both these examples will output the same thing.

[sde]

=) or joes way .. hehe , i wonder how many ways we can do the same thing.

[AOD]

Figured that one out. Thanks you are all so helpful.