How do I convert a date stored in UTC to the user's current locale in PHP?

Question

I have a date stored in the database in UTC.

2016-01-13 09:01:16

I can query the database and output this date just fine. But it outputs in the date in the wrong timezone.

How do I adjust a date from the database into the current user's locale?

I believe this involves using craft()->timezone at some point, with some method, but I have not had any luck. I'm retrieving the date with the query builder:

$rows = craft()->db->createCommand()
         ->select('dateCreated')
         ->from('mytable')
         ->queryAll();

Bonus points: sometimes I have multiple dates, so I need to modify all dates I get back into the right timezone.

More bonus points: at what point in the process is the best point to modify the date into the right timezone? In MySQL query? In PHP? In Twig?

Answer 1

Here is some code used in the past.

$timezone = new \DateTimeZone(craft()->getTimeZone());
$newdate = \DateTime::createFromFormat(DateTime::MYSQL_DATETIME, $mysqlDate, $timezone);

I have typically done this before assigning to a model.