PHP Exercises : Delay the program execution for the specified number of seconds

Last update on April 19 2025 11:49:45 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

18. Delay Program Execution

Write a PHP script to delay the program execution for the given number of seconds.

Sample Solution:

PHP Code:

<?php
// Output the current time in the 'hour:minute:second' format
echo date('h:i:s') . "\n";

// Sleep for 5 seconds
sleep(5);

// Output the current time again after waking up
echo date('h:i:s')."\n";
?>

Explanation:

• Display Current Time:
• date('h:i:s') outputs the current time in the format hour:minute:second (12-hour format with leading zeros).
• echo displays the time, followed by a newline (\n).
• Pause Execution:
• sleep(5) pauses the script execution for 5 seconds.
• Display Time After Delay:
• After the 5-second delay, date('h:i:s') outputs the current time again.
• echo displays this updated time, showing the time difference due to the delay.

Output:

02:47:42                                                            
02:47:47 

int sleep ( int $seconds ): sleep() function is used to delay the program execution for the given number of seconds.

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a PHP script to implement a countdown timer that delays execution using the sleep() function.
• Write a PHP script to delay output using both sleep() and usleep() for different time precisions.
• Write a PHP script to simulate a loading screen by pausing for a random interval between 2 and 5 seconds.
• Write a PHP script to delay script execution and log the pause duration along with a timestamp.

PHP Code Editor:

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