PHP date_format() Function Usage and Example

PHP Date & Time Functions Manual

The date_format() function returns a formatted date based on the given format

Definition and usage

This function isDateTime :: format()Alias of the function. It accepts a DateTime object and a format string (representing the required date/Time format) as a parameter, set the format of the object in the specified format, and then return the result.

Syntax

date_format($date_time_object, $format)

Parameter

return value

PHP date_format() function returns a formatted date string

PHP version

This function was originally in PHP version5.2.1introduced in and available in all higher versions.

Online Example

Here is an example to try, we are creating a DateTime object and formatting it-

<?php
　　　//create a DateTime object
　　　$date_time_Obj = date_create("25-09-1989");
　　　//format date/time object
　　　$format = date_format($date_time_Obj, "y"-d-m");
　　　print("yy-dd-mm format: "　
?>

Output Result

yy-dd-mm format:　89-25-09

Online Example

The following example sets the format of the DateTime object to date and time separately-

<?php
　　　$dateString = '11-06-2012　12:50:41　GMT';
　　　$dateTimeObj = date_create($dateString);
　　　$date = date_format($dateTimeObj, 'd-m-y');
　　　print("Date: " . $date);　
　　　print("\n");
　　　$time = date_format($dateTimeObj, 'H:i:s');
　　　print("Time: " . $time);　
?>

Output Result

Date:　11-06-12
Time:　12:50:41

Online Example

The following example demonstrates several valid format strings in PHP-

<?php
　　　$dateTimeObj = date_create("11-06-2019　12:50:41　GMT");
　　　print("y-m-d format: " . date_format($dateTimeObj, 'Y-m-d'));
　　　print("\n");
　　　print("d/m/y format: " . date_format($dateTimeObj, 'd/m/y'));
　　　print("\n");
　　　print("Y-m-d H:i:s format: " . date_format($dateTimeObj, 'Y-m-d H:i:s'));
　　　print("\n");
　　　print("Date in G:i:A format: " . date_format($dateTimeObj, 'G-i-A'));
?>

Output Result

y-m-Date in d format:　2019-06-11
d/m/Date in y format:　11/06/19
Y-m-Date in d H:i:s format:　2019-06-11　12:50:41
Date in G:i:A format:　12-50-PM

Online Example

The following example uses the date_format() method to create a new date-

<?php
　　　$dateSrc = '2015-04-19　12:50 GMT';
　　　$dateTime = date_create($dateSrc);;
　　　# Now use date_format() to set a new date;
　　　date_format($dateTime, "2000-12-12");
　　　
　　　echo "The formatted date is " . $dateTime--m-format("Y"
　　　echo "<br>";
　　　# Use the second function.
　　　$dateTime = new DateTime($dateSrc);
　　　$dateTime->setDate(　1999,　10,　12);
　　　
　　　echo "The formatted date is " . $dateTime--m-format("Y"
?>

This produces the following output-

New formatted date for　2005-04-19T12:50:00Z
New formatted date for　1999-10-12T12:50:00Z

Format string

Some characters have predefined meanings, you can use them to create format strings, they are:

• a - "am" or "pm"

• A - "AM" or "PM"

• d - Day, two digits, leading zeros if less than two digits; e.g., "01" to "31"

• D - Day of the week, three letters; e.g., "Fri"

• F - Month, full English name; e.g., "January"

• h - 12 24-hour format hour; e.g., "01" to "12"

• H - 24 12-hour format hour; e.g., "00" to "23"

• g - 12 24-hour format hour, no leading zeros if less than two digits; e.g., "1" to "12"

• G - 24 24-hour format hour, no leading zeros if less than two digits; e.g., "0" to "23"

• i - Minutes; e.g., "00" to "59"

• j - Day, two digits, no leading zeros if less than two digits; e.g., "1" to "31"

• l - Day of the week, full English name; e.g., "Friday"

• m - Month, two digits, leading zeros if less than two digits; e.g., "01" to "12"

• n - Month, two digits, no leading zeros if less than two digits; e.g., "1" to "12"

• M - Month, three English letters; e.g., "Jan"

• s - Seconds; e.g., "00" to "59"

• S - Add English ordinal suffix, two English letters; e.g., "th", "nd"

• t - Number of days in the specified month; e.g., "28" to "31"

• w - Numeric representation of the day of the week, e.g., "0" (Sunday) to "6" (Saturday)

• Y - Year, four digits; e.g., "1999"

• y - Year, two digits; e.g., "99"

• z - Day of the year; e.g., "0" to "365"

• U - Total seconds since the Unix epoch (Greenwich Mean Time1970 year1Month1Day 00:00:00)
  

• e　 - Time zone identifier (for example: UTC, Atlantic/Azores)

• I　 - (uppercase i)-Whether the date is daylight saving time (if it is daylight saving time, then1, otherwise 0)

• O - The difference in hours from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)+0100)

• T - PHP machine's time zone setting (for example: EST, MDT)

• Z - Time zone offset in seconds. UTC west of the offset is negative, UTC east of the offset is positive (-43200 to43200)

• c - ISO-8601Date (for example2004-02-12T15:19:21 + 00:00)

• r - RFC 2822Formatted date (for example, Thu,20000 year12Month21Day16:01:07 +0200)

PHP Date & Time Functions Manual