strftime

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strftime - Format a local time/date according to locale settings

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Code Examples

Example #1 strftime locale examples

This example will work if you have the respective locales installed in your system.

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Example #2 Display all known and unknown formats.

Result: Known format : 'A' = 'Friday' ( A full textual representation of the day ) Known format : 'B' = 'December' ( Full month name, based on the locale ) Known format : 'H' = '11' ( Two digit representation of the hour in 24-hour format ) Known format : 'I' = '11' ( Two digit representation of the hour in 12-hour format ) Known format : 'M' = '24' ( Two digit representation of the minute ) Known format : 'S' = '44' ( Two digit representation of the second ) Known format : 'U' = '48' ( Week number of the given year, starting with the first Sunday as the first week ) Known format : 'W' = '48' ( A numeric representation of the week of the year, starting with the first Monday as the first week ) Known format : 'X' = '11:24:44' ( Preferred time representation based on locale, without the date ) Known format : 'Y' = '2010' ( Four digit representation for the year ) Known format : 'Z' = 'GMT Standard Time' ( The time zone offset/abbreviation option NOT given by %z (depends on operating system) ) Known format : 'a' = 'Fri' ( An abbreviated textual representation of the day ) Known format : 'b' = 'Dec' ( Abbreviated month name, based on the locale ) Known format : 'c' = '12/03/10 11:24:44' ( Preferred date and time stamp based on local ) Known format : 'd' = '03' ( Two-digit day of the month (with leading zeros) ) Known format : 'j' = '337' ( Day of the year, 3 digits with leading zeros ) Known format : 'm' = '12' ( Two digit representation of the month ) Known format : 'p' = 'AM' ( UPPER-CASE "AM" or "PM" based on the given time ) Known format : 'w' = '5' ( Numeric representation of the day of the week ) Known format : 'x' = '12/03/10' ( Preferred date representation based on locale, without the time ) Known format : 'y' = '10' ( Two digit representation of the year ) Known format : 'z' = 'GMT Standard Time' ( Either the time zone offset from UTC or the abbreviation (depends on operating system) ) Known format : '%' = '%' ( A literal percentage character ("%") ) Unknown format : 'C' ( Two digit representation of the century (year divided by 100, truncated to an integer) ) Unknown format : 'D' ( Same as "%m/%d/%y" ) Unknown format : 'E' Unknown format : 'F' ( Same as "%Y-%m-%d" ) Unknown format : 'G' ( The full four-digit version of %g ) Unknown format : 'J' Unknown format : 'K' Unknown format : 'L' Unknown format : 'N' Unknown format : 'O' Unknown format : 'P' ( lower-case "am" or "pm" based on the given time ) Unknown format : 'Q' Unknown format : 'R' ( Same as "%H:%M" ) Unknown format : 'T' ( Same as "%H:%M:%S" ) Unknown format : 'V' ( ISO-8601:1988 week number of the given year, starting with the first week of the year with at least 4 weekdays, with Monday being the start of the week ) Unknown format : 'e' ( Day of the month, with a space preceding single digits ) Unknown format : 'f' Unknown format : 'g' ( Two digit representation of the year going by ISO-8601:1988 standards (see %V) ) Unknown format : 'h' ( Abbreviated month name, based on the locale (an alias of %b) ) Unknown format : 'i' Unknown format : 'k' ( Hour in 24-hour format, with a space preceding single digits ) Unknown format : 'l' ( Hour in 12-hour format, with a space preceding single digits ) Unknown format : 'n' ( A newline character ("\n") ) Unknown format : 'o' Unknown format : 'q' Unknown format : 'r' ( Same as "%I:%M:%S %p" ) Unknown format : 's' ( Unix Epoch Time timestamp ) Unknown format : 't' ( A Tab character ("\t") ) Unknown format : 'u' ( ISO-8601 numeric representation of the day of the week ) Unknown format : 'v'

<?php
// Describe the formats.
$strftimeFormats = array(
    'A' => 'A full textual representation of the day',
    'B' => 'Full month name, based on the locale',
    'C' => 'Two digit representation of the century (year divided by 100, truncated to an integer)',
    'D' => 'Same as "%m/%d/%y"',
    'E' => '',
    'F' => 'Same as "%Y-%m-%d"',
    'G' => 'The full four-digit version of %g',
    'H' => 'Two digit representation of the hour in 24-hour format',
    'I' => 'Two digit representation of the hour in 12-hour format',
    'J' => '',
    'K' => '',
    'L' => '',
    'M' => 'Two digit representation of the minute',
    'N' => '',
    'O' => '',
    'P' => 'lower-case "am" or "pm" based on the given time',
    'Q' => '',
    'R' => 'Same as "%H:%M"',
    'S' => 'Two digit representation of the second',
    'T' => 'Same as "%H:%M:%S"',
    'U' => 'Week number of the given year, starting with the first Sunday as the first week',
    'V' => 'ISO-8601:1988 week number of the given year, starting with the first week of the year with at least 4 weekdays, with Monday being the start of the week',
    'W' => 'A numeric representation of the week of the year, starting with the first Monday as the first week',
    'X' => 'Preferred time representation based on locale, without the date',
    'Y' => 'Four digit representation for the year',
    'Z' => 'The time zone offset/abbreviation option NOT given by %z (depends on operating system)',
    'a' => 'An abbreviated textual representation of the day',
    'b' => 'Abbreviated month name, based on the locale',
    'c' => 'Preferred date and time stamp based on local',
    'd' => 'Two-digit day of the month (with leading zeros)',
    'e' => 'Day of the month, with a space preceding single digits',
    'f' => '',
    'g' => 'Two digit representation of the year going by ISO-8601:1988 standards (see %V)',
    'h' => 'Abbreviated month name, based on the locale (an alias of %b)',
    'i' => '',
    'j' => 'Day of the year, 3 digits with leading zeros',
    'k' => 'Hour in 24-hour format, with a space preceding single digits',
    'l' => 'Hour in 12-hour format, with a space preceding single digits',
    'm' => 'Two digit representation of the month',
    'n' => 'A newline character ("\n")',
    'o' => '',
    'p' => 'UPPER-CASE "AM" or "PM" based on the given time',
    'q' => '',
    'r' => 'Same as "%I:%M:%S %p"',
    's' => 'Unix Epoch Time timestamp',
    't' => 'A Tab character ("\t")',
    'u' => 'ISO-8601 numeric representation of the day of the week',
    'v' => '',
    'w' => 'Numeric representation of the day of the week',
    'x' => 'Preferred date representation based on locale, without the time',
    'y' => 'Two digit representation of the year',
    'z' => 'Either the time zone offset from UTC or the abbreviation (depends on operating system)',
    '%' => 'A literal percentage character ("%")',
);
// Results.
$strftimeValues = array();
// Evaluate the formats whilst suppressing any errors.
foreach($strftimeFormats as $format => $description){
    if (False !== ($value = @strftime("%{$format}"))){
        $strftimeValues[$format] = $value;
    }
}
// Find the longest value.
$maxValueLength = 2 + max(array_map('strlen', $strftimeValues));
// Report known formats.
foreach($strftimeValues as $format => $value){
    echo "Known format   : '{$format}' = ", str_pad("'{$value}'", $maxValueLength), " ( {$strftimeFormats[$format]} )\n";
}
// Report unknown formats.
foreach(array_diff_key($strftimeFormats, $strftimeValues) as $format => $description){
    echo "Unknown format : '{$format}'   ", str_pad(' ', $maxValueLength), ($description ? " ( {$description} )" : ''), "\n";
}

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Example #3 ISO 8601:1988 week number example

<?php
/*     December 2002 / January 2003
ISOWk  M   Tu  W   Thu F   Sa  Su
----- ----------------------------
51     16  17  18  19  20  21  22
52     23  24  25  26  27  28  29
1      30  31   1   2   3   4   5
2       6   7   8   9  10  11  12
3      13  14  15  16  17  18  19   */
// Outputs: 12/28/2002 - %V,%G,%Y = 52,2002,2002
echo "12/28/2002 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y", strtotime("12/28/2002")) . "\n";
// Outputs: 12/30/2002 - %V,%G,%Y = 1,2003,2002
echo "12/30/2002 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y", strtotime("12/30/2002")) . "\n";
// Outputs: 1/3/2003 - %V,%G,%Y = 1,2003,2003
echo "1/3/2003 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y",strtotime("1/3/2003")) . "\n";
// Outputs: 1/10/2003 - %V,%G,%Y = 2,2003,2003
echo "1/10/2003 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y",strtotime("1/10/2003")) . "\n";
/*     December 2004 / January 2005
ISOWk  M   Tu  W   Thu F   Sa  Su
----- ----------------------------
51     13  14  15  16  17  18  19
52     20  21  22  23  24  25  26
53     27  28  29  30  31   1   2
1       3   4   5   6   7   8   9
2      10  11  12  13  14  15  16   */
// Outputs: 12/23/2004 - %V,%G,%Y = 52,2004,2004
echo "12/23/2004 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y",strtotime("12/23/2004")) . "\n";
// Outputs: 12/31/2004 - %V,%G,%Y = 53,2004,2004
echo "12/31/2004 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y",strtotime("12/31/2004")) . "\n";
// Outputs: 1/2/2005 - %V,%G,%Y = 53,2004,2005
echo "1/2/2005 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y",strtotime("1/2/2005")) . "\n";
// Outputs: 1/3/2005 - %V,%G,%Y = 1,2005,2005
echo "1/3/2005 - %V,%G,%Y = " . strftime("%V,%G,%Y",strtotime("1/3/2005")) . "\n";

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Example #4 Cross platform compatible example using the %e modifier

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Example #5 of strftime

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strftime

Example #1 strftime locale examples

Example #2 Display all known and unknown formats.

Example #3 ISO 8601:1988 week number example

Example #4 Cross platform compatible example using the %e modifier

Example #5 of strftime

Function strftime:

Date and Time Functions

Most used PHP functions