how to get date for holidays using php

This way worked for me.

function observed_date($holiday){
    $day = date("w", strtotime($holiday));
    if($day == 6) {
        $observed_date = $holiday -1;
    } elseif ($day == 0) {
        $observed_date = $holiday +1;
    } else {
        $observed_date = $holiday;
    }
    return $observed_date;
}

function get_holiday($holiday_name) {

    $currentYear = date('Y');

    switch ($holiday_name) {
        // New Years Day
        case "new_year":
            $holiday = observed_date(date('Ymd', strtotime("first day of january $currentYear")));
            break;
        // Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
        case "mlk_day":
            $holiday = date('Ymd', strtotime("january $currentYear third monday"));
            break;
        // President's Day
        case "presidents_day":
            $holiday = date('Ymd', strtotime("february $currentYear third monday"));
            break;
        // Memorial Day
        case "memorial_day":
            $holiday = (new DateTime("Last monday of May"))->format("Ymd");
            break;
        // Independence Day
        case "independence_day":
            $holiday = observed_date(date('Ymd', strtotime("july 4 $currentYear")));
            break;
        // Labor Day
        case "labor_day":
            $holiday = date('Ymd', strtotime("september $currentYear first monday"));
            break;
        // Columbus Day
        case "columbus_day":
            $holiday = date('Ymd', strtotime("october $currentYear second monday"));
            break;
        // Veteran's Day
        case "veterans_day":
            $holiday = observed_date(date('Ymd', strtotime("november 11 $currentYear")));
            break;
        // Thanksgiving Day
        case "thanksgiving_day":
            $holiday = date('Ymd', strtotime("november $currentYear fourth thursday"));
            break;
        // Christmas Day
        case "christmas_day":
        $holiday = observed_date(date('Ymd', strtotime("december 25 $currentYear")));
            break;

        default:
            $holiday = "";
            break;
    }
    return $holiday;

}

Then you can print out the holiday by calling the function echo get_holiday('new_year');

And the result for 2015 should be 20150101

The strtotime function is useful here but it seems to have some peculiarities on how it interprets the English verbiage. Be sure to check your wording carefully and check your results.

For instance this seems like it should work, but it will return the last Monday in April ($currentYear = 2014)!

echo "Memorial Day " . date('F d, Y', strtotime("may $currentYear last monday")) . "<br />";

However, this phrasing will return the correct holiday for 2014.

echo "Memorial Day " . date('F d, Y', strtotime("last monday of May $currentYear")) . "<br />"; 

And this will give you the correct date for the holiday next year.

echo "Memorial Day " . date('F d, Y', strtotime("last monday of May $currentYear+1")) . "<br />";

The PHP doc page has additional comments on its use. Take care

You can leverage this function of php. strtotime

$currentYear = date("Y");

MLK Day -

echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime("third monday of january $currentYear"));

Presidents Day -

echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime("third monday/OD February $currentYear"));

Easter -

echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime("last sunday of march $currentYear"));

Memorial Day -

echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime("last monday of may $currentYear"));