How to format dates using PHP (three methods)

When developing a website or application, it is often necessary to format dates. Sometimes, we need to convert the date from the format of year, month and day such as 2021-11-25 to the format of month, day and year of 11/25/2021 to adapt to different needs and locale environments. In this article, we will introduce several ways on how to format dates using PHP.

Method 1: Use the date() function

The date() function is one of the most commonly used date formatting functions in PHP. You can use it to convert a timestamp into a readable date string. Here, we will use the date() function to convert the date in the default format into month, day, and year format.

To use the date() function, we need to pass two parameters: the first parameter is a string to format the date, and the second parameter is a timestamp representing the date to be formatted.

The following is the sample code of how to use the date() function to format a date in the format of "year-month-day" into "month/day/year":

$date = '2021-11-25';
$formatted_date = date('m/d/Y', strtotime($date));
echo $formatted_date; // 11/25/2021

In the above In the code, we use the strtotime() function to convert the date string into a timestamp. Then, use the date() function to format the timestamp into the specified date format. Finally, we store the formatted date in the $formatted_date variable and print it to the screen.

Method 2: Use the DateTime class

The DateTime class is a powerful date and time class introduced in PHP 5 or above. It provides various methods and properties to handle and format dates and times. Here, we will use the DateTime class to format a date in the format of "Year-Month-Day" into a date format of "Month/Day/Year".

The following is a sample code on how to use the DateTime class to format a date in the format of "Year-Month-Day" to "Month/Day/Year":

$date = '2021-11-25';
$datetime = new DateTime($date);
$formatted_date = $datetime->format('m/d/Y');
echo $formatted_date; // 11/25/2021

In this example, We first create a DateTime object whose constructor accepts a date string as a parameter. We then use the format() method to format the date into a string in the specified format and store the result in the $formatted_date variable. Finally, we output the formatted date to the screen.

Method 3: Use strftime() function

The strftime() function is another date formatting function in PHP. Unlike the date() function, the strftime() function returns a localized date and time string. This means it can format dates according to the user's language and locale environment.

The following is a sample code on how to use the strftime() function to format a date in the format of "year-month-day" into "month/day/year":

$date = '2021-11-25';
$formatted_date = strftime('%m/%d/%Y', strtotime($date));
echo $formatted_date; //11 25 2021

In this example , we used the same strtotime() function as in the first example to convert a string date to a timestamp. Then, we used the strftime() function to convert the timestamp into a localized date string. In the strftime() function, we use the format specifiers "%m", "%d" and "%Y", which represent the month, day and year respectively. Finally, we store the formatted date in the $formatted_date variable and print it to the screen.

Conclusion

In this article, we introduced three methods to convert year-month-day date format to month-day-year date format. While each of these methods is valid and can be used depending on the situation, the DateTime class is the most powerful and flexible. No matter which method you use, you should pay attention to localization, follow best practices, and do your best to ensure that your date format works correctly across different systems and environments.

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