PHP output in a JavaScript expression

Question

Please consider the following scenario with a simple HTML document and a JavaScript loaded in it:

<!-- doc.html -->
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>        
        <script type="text/javascript" src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="script.js"></script>
    </head>
</html>

// script.js
window.onload = function()
{
    var d = new Date();
    d.setHours(<?php echo(date("H")); ?>);
}

It's really Quite simple, isn't it? However, while this coode works perfectly for getting the current hour (which will be returned as an INT), it doesn't if I try to receive a more complex date/time format like the one below:

var serverTime = <?php echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); ?>;

This should encode to 1900-01-01 00:00:00. So, cause this is not a legal expression I want to encapsulate the result with quotes:

var serverTime = "<?php echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); ?>";

At a first glance this should work. Unfortunately, it doesn't. serverTime contains just an empty string.

What am I doing wrong?

What gets returned when you just do echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); in PHP? — Naftali
– Naftali, Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:31
Don't know why this wouldn't work, but to set a time in javascript I'd use var d = Date(); d.setTime(<?php echo time() * 1000; ?>); — Chris
– Chris, Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:36
@Sascha by the way. that original code would not encode to 1900-01-01 00:00:00, it would show the current time and date. PHP's date does not even go back that far! — Naftali
– Naftali, Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:38
Is a bit confusing what you put at the top that the name of your file is doc.html and not a php script. — Galled
– Galled, Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:52

thejudge · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-28 14:46:27Z

2

Maybe your Timezone isnt correctly setup

try

<?
    date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles');
?>

or similar - full list can be found here

http://de3.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php

answered Nov 28, 2011 at 14:46

thejudge

3513 silver badges3 bronze badges

Finally figured it out. script.js needs to be renamed to script.php and the default timezone must be set.

0xbadf00d
– 0xbadf00d

11/28/2011 16:20:20
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 16:20

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Josh · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-28 14:34:42Z

0

The javascript won't execute your php code. Think of it like this: When the page is rendered php "replaces your php code" with the output of the php code.

So basically this

var serverTime = '<?php echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); ?>';

Should be rendered as

var serverTime = '2011-11-28 xx:xx:xx';

answered Nov 28, 2011 at 14:34

Josh

1611 gold badge2 silver badges5 bronze badges

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Galled · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-28 15:02:07Z

0

I think you are wrong in the way of you insert your parameters. Acording to this I think you should do this:

// script.js
window.onload = function()
{
    var d = new Date('<?php echo(date("F d, Y H:i:s")); ?>');
    d.setHours(<?php echo(date("H")); ?>, <?php echo(date("i")); ?>, <?php echo(date("s")); ?>);    
}

The statment var d = new Date('<?php echo(date("F d, Y H:i:s")); ?>'); is to follow the example of this link.

Because I can't see why php will fail to send the result of the date() function.

answered Nov 28, 2011 at 15:02

Galled

4,1912 gold badges30 silver badges41 bronze badges

Using single quotation marks results in a String containing the PHP code.

0xbadf00d
– 0xbadf00d

11/28/2011 15:04:53
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:04
@SaschaHoll I think all of these code are in a php script, so the quotes doesn't matter at the moment in you open the <?php ?> tags.

Galled
– Galled

11/28/2011 15:07:32
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:07

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Naftali · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-28 15:03:22Z

0

There is no reason why var serverTime = "<?php echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); ?>"; shouldn't return something like:

var serverTime = "2011-05-12 05:12:56";

Check to make sure that echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); is working correctly.

Other than that, the code should work fine.

See here: http://codepad.org/3CNx1ch9
Output: http://codepad.org/3CNx1ch9#output

edited Nov 28, 2011 at 15:03

answered Nov 28, 2011 at 14:32

Naftali

147k41 gold badges247 silver badges304 bronze badges

So, that's why I can't understand it!

0xbadf00d
– 0xbadf00d

11/28/2011 15:02:04
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:02
Dreamweaver reports a syntax error on the line var serverTime ....

0xbadf00d
– 0xbadf00d

11/28/2011 15:08:48
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:08
@SaschaHoll what does that mean? Did you try it in a browser?

Naftali
– Naftali

11/28/2011 15:10:30
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:10
Yeah, Firebug says: "missing ; before statement"

0xbadf00d
– 0xbadf00d

11/28/2011 15:14:22
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:14
let us continue this discussion in chat

Naftali
– Naftali

11/28/2011 15:14:49
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 15:14

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Richard Dalton · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-28 14:31:22Z

-1

Try using single quotes:

var serverTime = '<?php echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); ?>';

answered Nov 28, 2011 at 14:31

Richard Dalton

35.8k6 gold badges75 silver badges92 bronze badges

1

single quotes or double quotes should not matter in this case.

Naftali
– Naftali

11/28/2011 14:32:47
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:32
I wasn't sure if nested quotes were confusing the PHP parser (unlikely I know)

Richard Dalton
– Richard Dalton

11/28/2011 14:34:13
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:34

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davidethell · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-28 14:33:09Z

-1

Because you are using double quotes in your JavaScript you need to use single quotes in your php.

var serverTime = "<?php echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s'); ?>";

answered Nov 28, 2011 at 14:33

davidethell

12.1k6 gold badges47 silver badges67 bronze badges

1

See comment on the answer below. the quotes should not matter. They are in two different contexts.

Naftali
– Naftali

11/28/2011 14:33:59
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:33
1

Why does that make a difference? The PHP should be processed before the javascript.

Chris
– Chris

11/28/2011 14:34:42
Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 14:34

Add a comment |

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