How do I convert datetime to ISO 8601 in PHP

If you try set a value in datetime-local

date("Y-m-d\TH:i",strtotime('2010-12-30 23:21:46'));

//output : 2010-12-30T23:21

How to convert from ISO 8601 to unixtimestamp :

strtotime('2012-01-18T11:45:00+01:00');
// Output : 1326883500

How to convert from unixtimestamp to ISO 8601 (timezone server) :

date_format(date_timestamp_set(new DateTime(), 1326883500), 'c');
// Output : 2012-01-18T11:45:00+01:00

How to convert from unixtimestamp to ISO 8601 (GMT) :

date_format(date_create('@'. 1326883500), 'c') . "\n";
// Output : 2012-01-18T10:45:00+00:00

How to convert from unixtimestamp to ISO 8601 (custom timezone) :

date_format(date_timestamp_set(new DateTime(), 1326883500)->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/New_York')), 'c');
// Output : 2012-01-18T05:45:00-05:00

After PHP 5 you can use this: echo date("c"); form ISO 8601 formatted datetime.

http://ideone.com/nD7piL

Note for comments:

Regarding to this, both of these expressions are valid for timezone, for basic format: ±[hh]:[mm], ±[hh][mm], or ±[hh].

But note that, +0X:00 is correct, and +0X00 is incorrect for extended usage. So it's better to use date("c"). A similar discussion here.

Object Oriented

This is the recommended way.

$datetime = new DateTime('2010-12-30 23:21:46');

echo $datetime->format(DateTime::ATOM); // Updated ISO8601

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Procedural

For older versions of PHP, or if you are more comfortable with procedural code.

echo date(DATE_ISO8601, strtotime('2010-12-30 23:21:46'));