PHP date() Function
The PHP date() function returns a string formatted according to the specified format string using the given integer timestamp or the current time if no timestamp is given.
Syntax
date(format, timestamp)
Parameters
format |
Required. Specify the format string to format the outputted date string. Refer to the table below for formatting options. There are also several predefined date constants that can also be used, so for example DATE_RSS contains the format string 'D, d M Y H:i:s'. |
timestamp |
Optional. Specify a Unix timestamp representing the date. If it is omitted or null, it defaults to the current local time. |
format parameter string
Format character | Description | Example returned values |
---|---|---|
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 |
Y | A full numeric representation of a year, 4 digits | Examples: 1999 or 2003 |
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. | 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 | 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 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 time() method. |
Return Value
Returns a formatted date string.
Example: date() example
The example below shows the usage of date() function.
<?php //prints date like: Monday 17th of July 2017 12:00:45 PM //current local time echo date('l jS \of F Y h:i:s A')."\n"; //specified timestamp echo date('l jS \of F Y h:i:s A', 1500292845)."\n"; //prints date like: July 1, 2000 is on a Saturday echo "July 1, 2000 is on a " .date("l", mktime(0, 0, 0, 7, 1, 2000))."\n"; //using the constants in the format parameter //prints date like: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:28:57 -0700 echo date(DATE_RFC2822)."\n"; //prints date like: 2000-07-01T00:00:00+00:00 echo date(DATE_ATOM, mktime(0, 0, 0, 7, 1, 2000))."\n"; ?>
The output of the above code will be:
Tuesday 14th of September 2021 09:55:39 AM Monday 17th of July 2017 12:00:45 PM July 1, 2000 is on a Saturday Tue, 14 Sep 2021 09:55:39 +0000 2000-07-01T00:00:00+00:00
Example: Escaping characters in date()
A recognized character in the format string can be prevented from being expanded by escaping it with a preceding backslash. If the character with a backslash is already a special sequence, it also need to be escaped with the backslash.
<?php //prints date like: Wednesday the 15th echo date('l \t\h\e jS')."\n"; //prints date like: Wednesday the 15th of July 2017 echo date('l \t\h\e jS \of F Y'); ?>
The output of the above code will be:
Tuesday the 14th Tuesday the 14th of September 2021
Example: date() and mktime() example
It is possible to add or subtract the number of seconds in a day or month to a timestamp because of daylight saving time. Consider the example below:
<?php $tomorrow = mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m") , date("d")+1, date("Y")); $lastmonth = mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m")-1, date("d"), date("Y")); $nextyear = mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m"), date("d"), date("Y")+1); //printing the result echo date('l jS \of F Y', $tomorrow)."\n"; echo date('l jS \of F Y', $lastmonth)."\n"; echo date('l jS \of F Y', $nextyear)."\n"; ?>
The output of the above code will be:
Wednesday 15th of September 2021 Saturday 14th of August 2021 Wednesday 14th of September 2022
Example: date() formatting
In the example below, different format strings is used with this function.
<?php echo "1. ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."\n"; echo "2. ".date("m.d.y")."\n"; echo "3. ".date("j, n, Y")."\n"; echo "4. ".date("Ymd")."\n"; echo "5. ".date('h-i-s, j-m-y, it is w Day')."\n"; echo "6. ".date('\i\t \i\s \t\h\e jS \d\a\y.')."\n"; echo "7. ".date("D M j G:i:s T Y")."\n"; echo "8. ".date('H:m:s \m \i\s\ \m\o\n\t\h')."\n"; echo "9. ".date("H:i:s")."\n"; echo "10. ".date("Y-m-d H:i:s")."\n"; ?>
The output of the above code will be:
1. September 14, 2021, 11:05 am 2. 09.14.21 3. 14, 9, 2021 4. 20210914 5. 11-05-32, 14-09-21, 0530 0532 2 Tueam21 6. it is the 14th day. 7. Tue Sep 14 11:05:32 GMT 2021 8. 11:09:32 m is month 9. 11:05:32 10. 2021-09-14 11:05:32
❮ PHP Date and Time Reference