STRFTIME(3) 1 STRFTIME(3)
strftime - Format a local time/date according to locale settings
SYNOPSIS
string strftime (string $format, [int $timestamp = time()])
DESCRIPTION
Format the time and/or date according to locale settings. Month and weekday names and other language-dependent strings respect the current
locale set with setlocale(3).
Not all conversion specifiers may be supported by your C library, in which case they will not be supported by PHP's strftime(3). Addition-
ally, not all platforms support negative timestamps, so your date range may be limited to no earlier than the Unix epoch. This means that
%e, %T, %R and, %D (and possibly others) - as well as dates prior to Jan 1, 1970 - will not work on Windows, some Linux distributions, and
a few other operating systems. For Windows systems, a complete overview of supported conversion specifiers can be found at MSDN.
PARAMETERS
o $format
-
The following characters are recognized in the $format parameter string
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+---+
| $format | | |
| | | |
| | Description | |
| | | |
| | Example returned values | |
| | | |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+---+
| | | |
| Day | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %a | | |
| | | |
| | An abbreviated textual representa- | |
| | tion of the day | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | Sun through Sat | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %A | | |
| | | |
| | A full textual representation of the | |
| | day | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | Sunday through Saturday | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %d | | |
| | | |
| | Two-digit day of the month (with | |
| | leading zeros) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 01 to 31 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %e | | |
| | | |
| | Day of the month, with a space pre- | |
| | ceding single digits. Not imple- | |
| | mented as described on Windows. See | |
| | below for more information. | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 1 to 31 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %j | | |
| | | |
| | Day of the year, 3 digits with lead- | |
| | ing zeros | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 001 to 366 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %u | | |
| | | |
| | ISO-8601 numeric representation of | |
| | the day of the week | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 1 (for Monday) though 7 (for Sunday) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %w | | |
| | | |
| | Numeric representation of the day of | |
| | the week | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 0 (for Sunday) through 6 (for Satur- | |
| | day) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| Week | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %U | | |
| | | |
| | Week number of the given year, | |
| | starting with the first Sunday as | |
| | the first week | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 13 (for the 13th full week of the | |
| | year) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %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 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 01 through 53 (where 53 accounts for | |
| | an overlapping week) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %W | | |
| | | |
| | A numeric representation of the week | |
| | of the year, starting with the first | |
| | Monday as the first week | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 46 (for the 46th week of the year | |
| | beginning with a Monday) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| Month | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %b | | |
| | | |
| | Abbreviated month name, based on the | |
| | locale | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | Jan through Dec | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %B | | |
| | | |
| | Full month name, based on the locale | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | January through December | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %h | | |
| | | |
| | Abbreviated month name, based on the | |
| | locale (an alias of %b) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | Jan through Dec | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %m | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the | |
| | month | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 01 (for January) through 12 (for | |
| | December) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| Year | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %C | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the cen- | |
| | tury (year divided by 100, truncated | |
| | to an integer) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 19 for the 20th Century | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %g | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the year | |
| | going by ISO-8601:1988 standards | |
| | (see %V) | |
| | | |
| | Example: 09 for the week of January | |
| | 6, 2009 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %G | | |
| | | |
| | The full four-digit version of %g | |
| | | |
| | Example: 2008 for the week of Janu- | |
| | ary 3, 2009 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %y | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the year | |
| | | |
| | Example: 09 for 2009, 79 for 1979 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %Y | | |
| | | |
| | Four digit representation for the | |
| | year | |
| | | |
| | Example: 2038 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| Time | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %H | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the hour | |
| | in 24-hour format | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 00 through 23 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %k | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the hour | |
| | in 24-hour format, with a space pre- | |
| | ceding single digits | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 0 through 23 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %I | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the hour | |
| | in 12-hour format | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 01 through 12 | |
| | | |
| | | |
|%l (lower-case 'L') | | |
| | | |
| | Hour in 12-hour format, with a space | |
| | preceding single digits | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 1 through 12 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %M | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the | |
| | minute | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 00 through 59 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %p | | |
| | | |
| | UPPER-CASE 'AM' or 'PM' based on the | |
| | given time | |
| | | |
| | Example: AM for 00:31, PM for 22:23 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %P | | |
| | | |
| | lower-case 'am' or 'pm' based on the | |
| | given time | |
| | | |
| | Example: am for 00:31, pm for 22:23 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %r | | |
| | | |
| | Same as "%I:%M:%S %p" | |
| | | |
| | Example: 09:34:17 PM for 21:34:17 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %R | | |
| | | |
| | Same as "%H:%M" | |
| | | |
| | Example: 00:35 for 12:35 AM, 16:44 | |
| | for 4:44 PM | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %S | | |
| | | |
| | Two digit representation of the sec- | |
| | ond | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | 00 through 59 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %T | | |
| | | |
| | Same as "%H:%M:%S" | |
| | | |
| | Example: 21:34:17 for 09:34:17 PM | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %X | | |
| | | |
| | Preferred time representation based | |
| | on locale, without the date | |
| | | |
| | Example: 03:59:16 or 15:59:16 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %z | | |
| | | |
| | The time zone offset. Not imple- | |
| | mented as described on Windows. See | |
| | below for more information. | |
| | | |
| | Example: -0500 for US Eastern Time | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %Z | | |
| | | |
| | The time zone abbreviation. Not | |
| | implemented as described on Windows. | |
| | See below for more information. | |
| | | |
| | Example: EST for Eastern Time | |
| | | |
| | | |
|Time and Date Stamps | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %c | | |
| | | |
| | Preferred date and time stamp based | |
| | on locale | |
| | | |
| | Example: Tue Feb 5 00:45:10 2009 for | |
| | February 5, 2009 at 12:45:10 AM | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %D | | |
| | | |
| | Same as "%m/%d/%y" | |
| | | |
| | Example: 02/05/09 for February 5, | |
| | 2009 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %F | | |
| | | |
| | Same as "%Y-%m-%d" (commonly used in | |
| | database datestamps) | |
| | | |
| | Example: 2009-02-05 for February 5, | |
| | 2009 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %s | | |
| | | |
| | Unix Epoch Time timestamp (same as | |
| | the time(3) function) | |
| | | |
| | Example: 305815200 for September 10, | |
| | 1979 08:40:00 AM | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %x | | |
| | | |
| | Preferred date representation based | |
| | on locale, without the time | |
| | | |
| | Example: 02/05/09 for February 5, | |
| | 2009 | |
| | | |
| | | |
| Miscellaneous | | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %n | | |
| | | |
| | A newline character ("
") | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %t | | |
| | | |
| | A Tab character (" ") | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
| | | |
| %% | | |
| | | |
| | A literal percentage character ("%") | |
| | | |
| | --- | |
| | | |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+---+
Maximum length of this parameter is 1023 characters.
Warning
Contrary to ISO-9899:1999, Sun Solaris starts with Sunday as 1. As a result, %u may not function as described in this man-
ual.
Warning
Windows only:
The %e modifier is not supported in the Windows implementation of this function. To achieve this value, the %#d modifier can
be used instead. The example below illustrates how to write a cross platform compatible function.
The %z and %Z modifiers both return the time zone name instead of the offset or abbreviation.
Warning
Mac OS X only: The %P modifier is not supported in the Mac OS X implementation of this function.
o $timestamp
- The optional $timestamp parameter is an integer Unix timestamp that defaults to the current local time if a $timestamp is not
given. In other words, it defaults to the value of time(3).
RETURN VALUES
Returns a string formatted according $format using the given $timestamp or the current local time if no timestamp is given. Month and
weekday names and other language-dependent strings respect the current locale set with setlocale(3).
ERRORS
/EXCEPTIONS
Every call to a date/time function will generate a E_NOTICE if the time zone is not valid, and/or a E_STRICT or E_WARNING message if using
the system settings or the $TZ environment variable. See also date_default_timezone_set(3)
As the output is dependent upon the underlying C library, some conversion specifiers are not supported. On Windows, supplying unknown con-
version specifiers will result in 5 E_WARNING messages and return FALSE. On other operating systems you may not get any E_WARNING messages
and the output may contain the conversion specifiers unconverted.
CHANGELOG
+--------+---------------------------------------------------+
|Version | |
| | |
| | Description |
| | |
+--------+---------------------------------------------------+
| 5.1.0 | |
| | |
| | Now issues the E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone |
| | errors. |
| | |
+--------+---------------------------------------------------+
EXAMPLES
This example will work if you have the respective locales installed in your system.
Example #1
strftime(3) locale examples
<?php
setlocale(LC_TIME, "C");
echo strftime("%A");
setlocale(LC_TIME, "fi_FI");
echo strftime(" in Finnish is %A,");
setlocale(LC_TIME, "fr_FR");
echo strftime(" in French %A and");
setlocale(LC_TIME, "de_DE");
echo strftime(" in German %A.
");
?>
Example #2
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")) . "
";
// 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")) . "
";
// 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")) . "
";
// 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")) . "
";
/* 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")) . "
";
// 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")) . "
";
// 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")) . "
";
// 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")) . "
";
?>
Example #3
Cross platform compatible example using the %e modifier
<?php
// Jan 1: results in: '%e%1%' (%%, e, %%, %e, %%)
$format = '%%e%%%e%%';
// Check for Windows to find and replace the %e
// modifier correctly
if (strtoupper(substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3)) == 'WIN') {
$format = preg_replace('#(?<!%)((?:%%)*)%e#', '1%#d', $format);
}
echo strftime($format);
?>
Example #4
Display all known and unknown formats.
<?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 ("
")',
'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 (" ")',
'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[$format]} )
";
}
// Report unknown formats.
foreach(array_diff_key($strftimeFormats, $strftimeValues) as $format => $description){
echo "Unknown format : '{$format}' ", str_pad(' ', $maxValueLength), ($description ? " ( {$description} )" : ''), "
";
}
?>
The above example will output something similar to:
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'
Unknown format : 'l' ( Hour in 12-hour format, with a space preceding single digits )
Unknown format : 'n' ( A newline character ("
") )
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 (" ") )
Unknown format : 'u' ( ISO-8601 numeric representation of the day of the week )
Unknown format : 'v'
NOTES
Note
%G and %V, which are based on ISO 8601:1988 week numbers can give unexpected (albeit correct) results if the numbering system is
not thoroughly understood. See %V examples in this manual page.
SEE ALSO
Online strftime() format design tool, setlocale(3), mktime(3), strptime(3), gmstrftime(3), Open Group specification of strftime(3).
PHP Documentation Group STRFTIME(3)