Date and Time in Bitrix

Baseline: main 23.0+.

Bitrix does not use raw \DateTime — there are two wrappers that take into account site regional settings and user time zone.

• Bitrix\Main\Type\Date — date only (time is always 00:00:00).
• Bitrix\Main\Type\DateTime — date + time + time zone. Inherits from Date.

Both inherit from PHP \DateTime, so ->format(...), ->getTimestamp(), etc., work.

use Bitrix\Main\Type\Date;
use Bitrix\Main\Type\DateTime;

$date = new Date('25.11.2025', 'd.m.Y');
$dt = new DateTime();                         // now()
$dt = new DateTime('2025-11-25 14:30:00', 'Y-m-d H:i:s');

Formats: Bitrix Masks vs PHP

Regional settings use their own mask language (DD.MM.YYYY HH:MI:SS). The convertFormatToPhp(...) method converts it to PHP format.

Bitrix Mask	PHP	Description
YYYY	Y	Year
MM	m	Month (with leading zero)
MMMM	F	Month name
DD	d	Day (with leading zero)
HH	H	Hour 24
GG	h	Hour 12
H / G	G / g	Hour without leading zero
MI	i	Minutes
SS	s	Seconds
TT / T	A / a	AM/PM

$culture = \Bitrix\Main\Context::getCurrent()->getCulture();
echo $dt->format($culture->getDateTimeFormat()); // 25.11.2025 14:30:00
echo (string)$dt;                                // string conversion = format(culture.DateTime)

Use Culture::getDateFormat()/getDateTimeFormat() for UI output — this allows the project to switch to another language without code changes.

Creation / Parsing

Safe Parsing

$dt = DateTime::tryParse($request['DATE'], 'd.m.Y H:i'); // null on error
if ($dt === null) { /* format error */ }

if (!DateTime::isCorrect('31.02.2025', 'd.m.Y')) { /* ... */ }

Constructor with an incorrect string throws Bitrix\Main\ObjectException — so use tryParse/isCorrect for user input.

From Other Sources

$dt = DateTime::createFromPhp(new \DateTime('2025-11-25 14:30:00', new \DateTimeZone('UTC')));
$dt = DateTime::createFromTimestamp(time());
$date = Date::createFromText('end of next week');    // null if unparseable; understands local language

Arithmetic

add($interval) accepts both DateInterval strings (P10D, -P1M, P1Y2M10D) and human text (+5 days, -2 weeks):

$date = new Date('01.02.2025', 'd.m.Y');
$date->add('P10D');      // +10 days → 11.02.2025
$date->add('-P1M');      // -1 month → 11.01.2025
$date->add('+2 weeks');  // +14 days

Important: add mutates the object and returns it. If you need an immutable calculation — clone it: $later = (clone $dt)->add('P1D');.

Setting specific values:

$dt->setDate(2026, 1, 15);
$dt->setTime(9, 30, 0);

Diffs:

$diff = $d2->getDiff($d1);   // \DateInterval
echo $diff->days;

Time Zones

Bitrix stores dates in server time zone and shows them to the user in their time zone (from profile or auto-detected by browser). Configured in Settings → Main Module → Time Zones.

Explicitly Changing Object Time Zone

$dt->setTimeZone(new \DateTimeZone('Europe/Berlin'));
$dt->setDefaultTimeZone(); // return to server time zone

Converting To/From User Time

// User input in their TZ → server time object
$serverDt = DateTime::createFromUserTime('25.11.2025 18:00');

// Server time object → string in user's TZ
$userDt = $serverDt->toUserTime();

Auto-conversion on String Cast

If time zones are enabled in main module settings, DateTime → string cast automatically converts to user's time zone:

$dt = new DateTime('2025-11-25 12:00:00', 'Y-m-d H:i:s'); // UTC server
echo $dt;  // for a user in UTC+3 it will be "25.11.2025 15:00:00"

Disable (for logs, debugging, system events, email to admin):

$dt->disableUserTime();        // server time
$dt->enableUserTime();         // enable back
$dt->isUserTimeEnabled();      // true|false

ORM fields of DatetimeField type return a ready-to-use DateTime — you can immediately write echo $post->getCreatedAt();, but call disableUserTime() when logging.

ORM Integration

use Bitrix\Main\ORM\Fields\DatetimeField;
use Bitrix\Main\ORM\Fields\DateField;

(new DatetimeField('CREATED_AT'))
    ->configureRequired()
    ->configureDefaultValue(static fn () => new DateTime());

(new DateField('BIRTH_DAY'))->configureNullable();

In queries, you can compare directly with DateTime:

PostTable::getList([
    'filter' => [
        '>CREATED_AT' => (new DateTime())->add('-P7D'),  // a week ago
    ],
]);

When to use \DateTime, when Bitrix DateTime

• Public API (writing to DB, UI output, ORM) — Bitrix DateTime.
• Bridge with an external library using PSR/Symfony — get \DateTimeImmutable and convert via DateTime::createFromPhp(...).
• For arithmetic and differences — DateTime works, both APIs are available.

Practical Recipes

Start/End of Day

$start = (clone $now)->setTime(0, 0, 0);
$end   = (clone $now)->setTime(23, 59, 59);

Start of Week (Monday)

$weekStart = (clone $now);
$weekStart->setTime(0, 0, 0);
$weekStart->modify('monday this week');

Same Day Last Year

$lastYear = (clone $now)->add('-P1Y');

Outputting "in 5 minutes" in a Cron Task

\CAgent::AddAgent(
    MyAgent::class . '::run();',
    'vendor.module',
    'N',
    60,
    '',
    'Y',
    (new DateTime())->add('+5 minutes')->toString(),
);

Use Culture::getDateFormat() / getDateTimeFormat() (via Context::getCurrent()->getCulture()) for locale-aware date formatting instead of hardcoded date() masks.