understanding gmtime return value

Question

I can't understand why gmdate() and date() reutrn the same values if my server is not configured to be on Greenwich Mean Time.

Why is this?

echo time();                 // 1311011114
echo date("U");              // 1311011114
echo gmdate("U");            // 1311011114


echo date("j-m-y H:m:s");    // 18-07-11 12:07:14
echo date("e");              // America/Chicago
echo date("O");              // -0500
echo date("T");              // CDT

UPDATE
how do I obtain current time on Greenwich? calculating with date("O")? is there other way?

Answer 1

Because time never changes -- it is always seconds since epoch (GMT).

Time is always the same. It is just your time-zone is different and that is how display date differs.

You can change your timezone in order to see time in the different zones.

See here for all the Date/Time functions