PHP - date_create_from_format() Function

September 15, 2024

Categories: PHP Functions, PHP Reference, Reference

Quick Reference

The PHP date_create_from_format() function returns a new DateTime object formatted according to the specified format.

<?php
$date = date_create_from_format('M-j-Y','Jan-11-2013');
echo date_format($date, 'm/d/Y');
?>

Output

01/11/2013

Syntax

date_create_from_format(format, time, timezone)

Parameters

Parameter	Description
format	Specifies the format to use (required): d - Day of the month; with leading zeros j - Day of the month; without leading zeros D - Day of the month (Mon - Sun) l - Day of the month (Monday - Sunday) S - English suffix for day of the month (st, nd, rd, th) F - Monthname (January - December) M - Monthname (Jan-Dec) m - Month (01-12) n - Month (1-12) Y - Year (e.g 2013) y - Year (e.g 13) a and A - am or pm g - 12 hour format without leading zeros G - 24 hour format without leading zeros h - 12 hour format with leading zeros H - 24 hour format with leading zeros i - Minutes with leading zeros s - Seconds with leading zeros u - Microseconds (up to six digits) e, O, P and T - Timezone identifier U - Seconds since Unix Epoch (space) # - One of the following separation symbol: ;,:,/,.,,,-,(,) ? - A random byte * - Random bytes until next separator/digit ! - Resets all fields to Unix Epoch \| - Resets all fields to Unix Epoch if they have not been parsed yet + - If present, trailing data in the string will cause a warning, not an error
time	Specifies a date/time string; NULL indicates the current date/time(required)
timezone	Specifies the timezone of time (default is the current timezone)

PHP Notes:

When using PHP, single or double quotation marks are acceptable and work identically to one another; choose whichever you prefer, and stay consistent
Arrays count starting from zero NOT one; so item 1 is position [0], item 2 is position [1], and item 3 is position [2] … and so on

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