Generate random timestamp between two dates

By: Sir Derek G in PHP Tutorials on 2010-09-29

Here's a nifty little function that returns a random timestamp between two dates.

<?php 
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
// Return a random timestamp between two dates (inclusive) 
// Example: Tue, 08 Nov 2004 06:47:10 GMT 
// 
// time - Starting time string 
// Valid Examples: 
// 10 September 2001 
// next Thursday 
// last Monday 
// now 
// 
// time2 - Ending time string 
function randomTimestamp($time = "" , $time2 = "") 
{ 
    if(!$time) $time = strtotime("10 September 2000"); 
    if(!$time2) $time2 = strtotime("24 November 2005"); 
    $timestamp = date(" D, d M Y", rand( settype($time , int) , settype($time2 , int) )); //Must be called once before becoming random, ??? 
    $timestamp = date(" D, d M Y", rand($time , $time2))." ";//Now it's random 

    $h = rand(1,23); 
    if(strlen($h) == 1 ) $h = "0$h"; 
    $t = $h.":"; 

    $d = rand(1,29); 
    if(strlen($d) == 1 ) $d = "0$d"; 
    $t .= $d.":"; 

    $s = rand(0,59); 
    if(strlen($s) == 1 ) $s = "0$s"; 
    $t .= $s; 

    $timestamp .= $t." GMT"; 
    return $timestamp; 
} 
?>

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