❮ PHP Date/Time Reference
Example
Return a new DateTime object, and then format the date:
Try it Yourself »
Definition and Usage
The date_format[] function returns a date formatted according to the specified format.
Note: This function does not use locales [all output is in English].
Tip: Also look at the date[] function, which formats a local date/time.
Syntax
date_format[object, format]
Parameter Values
object | Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by date_create[] |
format | Required. Specifies the format for the date. The following characters can be used:
and the following predefined constants can also be used [available since PHP 5.1.0]:
|
Technical Details
Returns the formatted date as a string. FALSE on failure |
5.2+ |
❮ PHP Date/Time Reference
Day
---
---
d
Day of the month, 2 digits with leading zeros
01
to 31
D
A textual representation of a day, three letters
Mon
through Sun
j
Day of the month without leading zeros
1
to 31
l
[lowercase 'L']
A full textual representation of the day of the week
Sunday
through Saturday
N
ISO 8601 numeric representation of the day of the week
1
[for Monday] through 7
[for Sunday]
S
English ordinal suffix for the day of the month, 2 characters
st
, nd
, rd
or th
. Works well with j
w
Numeric representation of the day of the week
0
[for Sunday] through 6
[for Saturday]
z
The day of the year [starting from 0]
0
through 365
Week
---
---
W
ISO 8601 week number of year, weeks starting on Monday
Example: 42
[the 42nd week in the year]
Month
---
---
F
A full textual representation of a month, such as January or March
January
through December
m
Numeric representation of a month, with leading zeros
01
through 12
M
A short textual representation of a month, three letters
Jan
through Dec
n
Numeric representation of a month, without leading zeros
1
through 12
t
Number of days in the given month
28
through 31
Year
---
---
L
Whether it's a leap year
1
if it is a leap year, 0
otherwise.
o
ISO 8601 week-numbering year. This has the same value as Y
, except that if the ISO week number [W
] belongs to the previous or next year, that year is used instead.
Examples: 1999
or 2003
X
An expanded full numeric representation of a year, at least 4 digits, with -
for years BCE, and +
for years CE.
Examples: -0055
, +0787
, +1999
, +10191
x
An expanded full numeric representation if requried, or a standard full numeral representation if possible [like Y
]. At least four digits. Years BCE are prefixed with a -
. Years beyond [and including] 10000
are prefixed by a +
.
Examples: -0055
, 0787
, 1999
, +10191
Y
A full numeric representation of a year, at least 4 digits, with -
for years BCE.
Examples: -0055
, 0787
, 1999
, 2003
, 10191
y
A two digit representation of a year
Examples: 99
or 03
Time
---
---
a
Lowercase Ante meridiem and Post meridiem
am
or pm
A
Uppercase Ante meridiem and Post meridiem
AM
or PM
B
Swatch Internet time
000
through 999
g
12-hour format of an hour without leading zeros
1
through 12
G
24-hour format of an hour without leading zeros
0
through 23
h
12-hour format of an hour with leading zeros
01
through 12
H
24-hour format of an hour with leading zeros
00
through 23
i
Minutes with leading zeros
00
to 59
s
Seconds with leading zeros
00
through 59
u
Microseconds. Note that date[] will always generate 000000
since it takes an int parameter, whereas DateTime::format[] does support microseconds if DateTime was created with microseconds.
Example: 654321
v
Milliseconds. Same note applies as for u
.
Example: 654
Timezone
---
---
e
Timezone identifier
Examples: UTC
, GMT
, Atlantic/Azores
I
[capital i]
Whether or not the date is in daylight saving time
1
if Daylight Saving Time, 0
otherwise.
O
Difference to Greenwich time [GMT] without colon between hours and minutes
Example: +0200
P
Difference to Greenwich time [GMT] with colon between hours and minutes
Example: +02:00
p
The same as P
, but returns Z
instead of +00:00
[available as of PHP 8.0.0]
Example: +02:00
T
Timezone abbreviation, if known; otherwise the GMT offset.
Examples: EST
, MDT
, +05
Z
Timezone offset in seconds. The offset for timezones west of UTC is always negative, and for those east of UTC is always positive.
-43200
through 50400
Full Date/Time
---
---
c
ISO 8601 date
2004-02-12T15:19:21+00:00
r
» RFC 2822/» RFC 5322 formatted date
Example: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:01:07 +0200
U
Seconds since the Unix Epoch [January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT]
See also time[]