Working with dates in WordPress

dates.php

// Working with dates is annoying. Time is annoying, especially with timezones involved.  
// In WP, you have to worry about the timezone set by WordPress AND the timezone set in php.ini.
// A safe bet when working with date logic in WP, is to assume that the timezone set by the WP backend is correct.
// More than likely, an event is local and thus should use WP timezone. 

// HOWEVER, when working with php's DateTime class, you need to manually set the timezone or you'll have 
// inconsistant dates! Below is a snippet which helps set the timezone, does calculations, and then sets it back.

// Set to WP timezone
$phpTimezone = date_default_timezone_get();
if( get_option('timezone_string') ) date_default_timezone_set( get_option('timezone_string') );

// Correct way to get today's date. 
$today = new \DateTime(current_time( 'Y-m-d' ));

// Flip it back to php timezone
date_default_timezone_set($phpTimezone);