PHP Function Reference

PHP DateTime - format() Method



The PHP DateTime::format() method returns date formatted according to given format. The date_format() function is an alias of this method.

Note: This method is defined under DateTimeInterface interface. DateTime and DateTimeImmutable classes inherit this method from DateTimeInterface interface.

Syntax

//Object-oriented style
public DateTime::format(format)
public DateTimeImmutable::format(format)
public DateTimeInterface::format(format)

//Procedural style
date_format(object, format)

Parameters

object Required. For procedural style only: A DateTime object returned by date_create().
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'.

format parameter string

Format characterDescriptionExample returned values
Day
dDay of the month, 2 digits with leading zeros01 to 31
DA textual representation of a day, three lettersMon through Sun
jDay of the month without leading zeros1 to 31
l (lowercase 'L')A full textual representation of the day of the weekSunday through Saturday
NISO-8601 numeric representation of the day of the week1 (for Monday) through 7 (for Sunday)
SEnglish ordinal suffix for the day of the month, 2 charactersst, nd, rd or th. Works well with j
wNumeric representation of the day of the week0 (for Sunday) through 6 (for Saturday)
zThe day of the year (starting from 0)0 through 365
Week
WISO-8601 week number of year, weeks starting on MondayExample: 42 (the 42nd week in the year)
Month
FA full textual representation of a month, such as January or MarchJanuary through December
mNumeric representation of a month, with leading zeros01 through 12
MA short textual representation of a month, three lettersJan through Dec
nNumeric representation of a month, without leading zeros1 through 12
tNumber of days in the given month28 through 31
Year
LWhether it's a leap year1 if it is a leap year, 0 otherwise.
oISO-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
YA full numeric representation of a year, 4 digitsExamples: 1999 or 2003
yA two digit representation of a yearExamples: 99 or 03
Time
aLowercase Ante meridiem and Post meridiemam or pm
AUppercase Ante meridiem and Post meridiemAM or PM
BSwatch Internet time000 through 999
g12-hour format of an hour without leading zeros1 through 12
G24-hour format of an hour without leading zeros0 through 23
h12-hour format of an hour with leading zeros01 through 12
H24-hour format of an hour with leading zeros00 through 23
iMinutes with leading zeros00 to 59
sSeconds with leading zeros00 through 59
uMicroseconds.Example: 654321
vMilliseconds. Same note applies as for u.Example: 654
Timezone
eTimezone identifierExamples: UTC, GMT, Atlantic/Azores
I (capital i)Whether or not the date is in daylight saving time1 if Daylight Saving Time, 0 otherwise.
ODifference to Greenwich time (GMT) without colon between hours and minutesExample: +0200
PDifference to Greenwich time (GMT) with colon between hours and minutesExample: +02:00
pThe same as P, but returns Z instead of +00:00Example: +02:00
TTimezone abbreviation, if known; otherwise the GMT offset.Examples: EST, MDT, +05
ZTimezone 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
cISO 8601 date2004-02-12T15:19:21+00:00
rRFC 2822 formatted dateExample: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:01:07 +0200
USeconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)See time() method.

Return Value

Returns the formatted date string on success.

Example: using both styles

The example below shows the usage of DateTime::format() method.

<?php
  //datetime string
  $datetime_string = "14-Dec-2015 10:15";

  //creating a DateTime object
  $date = new DateTime($datetime_string);

  //formatting the datetime using Object-oriented 
  //style to print it
  echo $date->format("d-M-Y H:i:s")."\n";

  //formatting the datetime using Procedural 
  //style to print it
  echo date_format($date, "d-M-Y H:i:s")."\n";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

14-Dec-2015 10:15:00
14-Dec-2015 10:15:00

Example: Format a DateTime object

Consider the example below where a DateTime object is formatted in few different ways.

<?php
  //datetime string
  $datetime_string = "14-May-2015 10:15:28 GMT+2";

  //creating a DateTime object
  $date = new DateTime($datetime_string);

  //formatting the datetime to print it
  echo "Date in y-m-d format: ".$date->format("y-m-d")."\n";
  echo "Date in d-M-Y format: ".$date->format("d-M-Y")."\n";
  echo "Date in d-M-Y H:i:s format: ".$date->format("d-M-Y H:i:s")."\n";
  echo "Date in d-M-Y H:i:s P format: ".$date->format("d-M-Y H:i:s P")."\n";
  echo "Date in G:i:A format: ".$date->format("G:i:A")."\n";
  echo "Date in D, d M Y H:i:s format: "
       .$date->format("D, d M Y H:i:s")."\n";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Date in y-m-d format: 15-05-14
Date in d-M-Y format: 14-May-2015
Date in d-M-Y H:i:s format: 14-May-2015 10:15:28
Date in d-M-Y H:i:s P format: 14-May-2015 10:15:28 +02:00
Date in G:i:A format: 10:15:AM
Date in D, d M Y H:i:s format: Thu, 14 May 2015 10:15:28

Example: Format a DateTimeImmutable object

This method can be used with DateTimeImmutable object also. Consider the example below:

<?php
  //datetime string
  $datetime_string = "14-May-2015 10:15:28 GMT+2";

  //creating a DateTimeImmutable object
  $date = new DateTimeImmutable($datetime_string);

  //formatting the datetime to print it
  echo "Date in d-M-Y format: ".$date->format("d-M-Y")."\n";
  echo "Date in G:i:A format: ".$date->format("G:i:A")."\n";
  echo "Date in U format: ".$date->format("U")."\n";
  echo "Date in D, d M Y H:i:s format: "
       .$date->format("D, d M Y H:i:s")."\n";
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Date in d-M-Y format: 14-May-2015
Date in G:i:A format: 10:15:AM
Date in U format: 1431591328
Date in D, d M Y H:i:s format: Thu, 14 May 2015 10:15:28

❮ PHP Date and Time Reference