The PHP Date() Function

PHP Date() - Format the Date

The required format parameter in the date() function specifies how to format the date/time.
Here are some characters that can be used:

• d - Represents the day of the month (01 to 31)
• m - Represents a month (01 to 12)
• Y - Represents a year (in four digits)

A list of all the characters that can be used in the format parameter, can be found in our PHP Date as follow

PHP date() Function

Example

Format a local date and time and return the formatted date strings:

<?php
// Prints the day
echo date("l") . "<br>";

// Prints the day, date, month, year, time, AM or PM
echo date("l jS \of F Y h:i:s A");
?> 

 

Other characters, like"/", ".", or "-" can also be inserted between the letters to add additional formatting:

<?php
echo date("Y/m/d") . "<br>";
echo date("Y.m.d") . "<br>";

echo date("Y-m-d");
?> 

 

The output of the code above could be something like this:

2009/05/11
2009.05.11
2009-05-11