php.net |  support |  documentation |  report a bug |  advanced search |  search howto |  statistics |  random bug |  login
Bug #74930 when $timestamp > 1500367000, strtotime($timestamp) won't return false
Submitted: 2017-07-15 17:29 UTC Modified: 2017-07-19 07:16 UTC
From: yaozeyuan93 at gmail dot com Assigned:
Status: Not a bug Package: Date/time related
PHP Version: 5.6.31 OS: Any
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
Welcome back! If you're the original bug submitter, here's where you can edit the bug or add additional notes.
If you forgot your password, you can retrieve your password here.
Password:
Status:
Package:
Bug Type:
Summary:
From: yaozeyuan93 at gmail dot com
New email:
PHP Version: OS:

 

 [2017-07-15 17:29 UTC] yaozeyuan93 at gmail dot com
Description:
------------
according to [document](http://php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php#refsect1-function.strtotime-changelog), put number into strtotime will be ignore and return false. But if the number > 1500367000, strtotime will return a big number but not false instead

Test script:
---------------
<?php

$timestamp = 1500367000; // result by strtotime('2017-7-18 16:36:40'),larger will also had this problem
echo strtotime($timestamp); // while return 158748447636, not false

Actual result:
--------------
158748447636

Patches

Pull Requests

History

AllCommentsChangesGit/SVN commitsRelated reports
 [2017-07-15 17:36 UTC] requinix@php.net
-Status: Open +Status: Not a bug
 [2017-07-15 17:36 UTC] requinix@php.net
Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report
a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php

Because that number looks like HHMMSSYYYY format.
http://php.net/manual/en/datetime.formats.php

strtotime has to assume that what you pass is supposed to be a date/time string of some sorts. Garbage in, garbage out.
 [2017-07-19 01:54 UTC] johnoflah at gmail dot com
If it is looking for HHMMSSYYYY why would:

strtotime("1500366999");

return false but:

strtotime("1500367000");

return a timestamp?
 [2017-07-19 06:27 UTC] requinix@php.net
Because 1500366999 looks like it fits the format YYYYdoy (year 1500, day of year 366) but is rejected due to the extra characters '999' at the end.

https://3v4l.org/MsDGL

I'll say it again: garbage in, garbage out. If strtotime has to try to make sense of something that is not a date string then you may get unexpected results.
 [2017-07-19 07:16 UTC] derick@php.net
And you can make it work by prefixing the @ in front of the number:

strtotime("@1500367000");
 
PHP Copyright © 2001-2025 The PHP Group
All rights reserved.
Last updated: Wed Jul 02 11:01:36 2025 UTC