How to create a dropdown of time?

Question

I want to create a dropdown for time in PHP. It should be of 24 hour format with an interval of 30 minutes like 00:00 then 00:30 then 13:00 and so on.I want it round the clock.

I have used this code

<?php 
    $start = strtotime('12:00 AM');
    $end   = strtotime('11:59 PM');
?>
<select style="width:85px;" name="select1" id="select1">
    <?php for($i = $start;$i<=$end;$i+=1800){ ?>  
        <option value='<?php echo date('G:i', $i); ?>'><?php echo date('G:i', $i); ?></option>;
    <?php } ?>
</select>

The problem is that it doesn't cover the last span of 11:30 to 12:00 AM as the increment value exceeds the end, Is there a direct way to do this in PHP?

Answer 1

You could use that function to create time list anywhere on your page:

/**
 *
 * Get times as option-list.
 *
 * @return string List of times
 */
function get_times ($default = '19:00', $interval = '+30 minutes') {

    $output = '';

    $current = strtotime('00:00');
    $end = strtotime('23:59');

    while ($current <= $end) {
        $time = date('H:i', $current);
        $sel = ($time == $default) ? ' selected' : '';

        $output .= "<option value=\"{$time}\"{$sel}>" . date('h.i A', $current) .'</option>';
        $current = strtotime($interval, $current);
    }

    return $output;
}

Get times:

<select name="time"><?php echo get_times(); ?></select>

Here is the result:

<select name="time">
    <option value="00:00">12.00 AM</option>
    <option value="00:30">12.30 AM</option>
    <option value="01:00">01.00 AM</option>
    <option value="01:30">01.30 AM</option>
    <option value="02:00">02.00 AM</option>
    <option value="02:30">02.30 AM</option>
    <option value="03:00">03.00 AM</option>
    <option value="03:30">03.30 AM</option>
    <option value="04:00">04.00 AM</option>
    <option value="04:30">04.30 AM</option>
    <option value="05:00">05.00 AM</option>
    <option value="05:30">05.30 AM</option>
    <option value="06:00">06.00 AM</option>
    <option value="06:30">06.30 AM</option>
    <option value="07:00">07.00 AM</option>
    <option value="07:30">07.30 AM</option>
    <option value="08:00">08.00 AM</option>
    <option value="08:30">08.30 AM</option>
    <option value="09:00">09.00 AM</option>
    <option value="09:30">09.30 AM</option>
    <option value="10:00">10.00 AM</option>
    <option value="10:30">10.30 AM</option>
    <option value="11:00">11.00 AM</option>
    <option value="11:30">11.30 AM</option>
    <option value="12:00">12.00 PM</option>
    <option value="12:30">12.30 PM</option>
    <option value="13:00">01.00 PM</option>
    <option value="13:30">01.30 PM</option>
    <option value="14:00">02.00 PM</option>
    <option value="14:30">02.30 PM</option>
    <option value="15:00">03.00 PM</option>
    <option value="15:30">03.30 PM</option>
    <option value="16:00">04.00 PM</option>
    <option value="16:30">04.30 PM</option>
    <option value="17:00">05.00 PM</option>
    <option value="17:30">05.30 PM</option>
    <option value="18:00">06.00 PM</option>
    <option value="18:30">06.30 PM</option>
    <option value="19:00" selected="">07.00 PM</option>
    <option value="19:30">07.30 PM</option>
    <option value="20:00">08.00 PM</option>
    <option value="20:30">08.30 PM</option>
    <option value="21:00">09.00 PM</option>
    <option value="21:30">09.30 PM</option>
    <option value="22:00">10.00 PM</option>
    <option value="22:30">10.30 PM</option>
    <option value="23:00">11.00 PM</option>
    <option value="23:30">11.30 PM</option>
</select>

Answer 2

Uhm, it is extremely unlikely that in the future, our clocks suddenly gain a 25th hour, so a normal loop should do fine:

for($hours=0; $hours<24; $hours++) // the interval for hours is '1'
    for($mins=0; $mins<60; $mins+=30) // the interval for mins is '30'
        echo '<option>'.str_pad($hours,2,'0',STR_PAD_LEFT).':'
                       .str_pad($mins,2,'0',STR_PAD_LEFT).'</option>';