strftime
Description
The strftime of Date / Time for PHP format a local time/date according to locale settings.
Syntax
strftime ( string $format [, int $timestamp = time() ] ) : string
Parameters
format
Format | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Day | ||
%a | An abbreviated textual representation 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 preceding single digits. Not implemented as described on Windows. See below for more information. | 1 to 31 |
%j | Day of the year, 3 digits with leading zeros | 001 to 366 |
%u | ISO-8601 numeric representation of the day of the week | 1 (for Monday) through 7 (for Sunday) |
%w | Numeric representation of the day of the week | 0 (for Sunday) through 6 (for Saturday) |
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 century (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 January 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 | Hour in 24-hour format, with a space preceding single digits | 0 through 23 |
%I | Two digit representation of the hour in 12-hour format | 01 through 12 |
%l (lowercase 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 second | 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 implemented 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() 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 ("\n") | |
%t | A Tab character ("\t") | |
%% | 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 manual. 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: macOS only: The %P modifier is not supported in the macOS implementation of this function.
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().
Return
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().
Examples
1
<? setlocale(LC_TIME, "C"); echo strftime("%A") . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL; setlocale(LC_TIME, "fi_FI"); echo strftime("Finnish: %A") . PHP_EOL; setlocale(LC_TIME, "fr_FR"); echo strftime("French: %A") . PHP_EOL; setlocale(LC_TIME, "de_DE"); echo strftime("German: %A");
Wednesday Finnish: keskiviikko French: mercredi German: Mittwoch
2
<? /* 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";
12/28/2002 - %V,%G,%Y = 52,2002,2002 12/30/2002 - %V,%G,%Y = 01,2003,2002 1/3/2003 - %V,%G,%Y = 01,2003,2003 1/10/2003 - %V,%G,%Y = 02,2003,2003 12/23/2004 - %V,%G,%Y = 52,2004,2004 12/31/2004 - %V,%G,%Y = 53,2004,2004 1/2/2005 - %V,%G,%Y = 53,2004,2005 1/3/2005 - %V,%G,%Y = 01,2005,2005
3
<? // 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);
%e% 6%
4
<? // 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"; }
Known format : 'A' = 'Wednesday' ( A full textual representation of the day ) Known format : 'B' = 'November' ( Full month name, based on the locale ) Known format : 'C' = '20' ( Two digit representation of the century (year divided by 100, truncated to an integer) ) Known format : 'D' = '11/06/24' ( Same as "%m/%d/%y" ) Known format : 'E' = '%E' ( ) Known format : 'F' = '2024-11-06' ( Same as "%Y-%m-%d" ) Known format : 'G' = '2024' ( The full four-digit version of %g ) Known format : 'H' = '01' ( Two digit representation of the hour in 24-hour format ) Known format : 'I' = '01' ( Two digit representation of the hour in 12-hour format ) Known format : 'J' = '%J' ( ) Known format : 'K' = '%K' ( ) Known format : 'L' = '%L' ( ) Known format : 'M' = '50' ( Two digit representation of the minute ) Known format : 'N' = '%N' ( ) Known format : 'O' = '%O' ( ) Known format : 'P' = 'am' ( lower-case "am" or "pm" based on the given time ) Known format : 'Q' = '%Q' ( ) Known format : 'R' = '01:50' ( Same as "%H:%M" ) Known format : 'S' = '58' ( Two digit representation of the second ) Known format : 'T' = '01:50:58' ( Same as "%H:%M:%S" ) Known format : 'U' = '44' ( Week number of the given year, starting with the first Sunday as the first week ) Known format : 'V' = '45' ( 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 ) Known format : 'W' = '45' ( A numeric representation of the week of the year, starting with the first Monday as the first week ) Known format : 'X' = '01:50:58' ( Preferred time representation based on locale, without the date ) Known format : 'Y' = '2024' ( Four digit representation for the year ) Known format : 'Z' = 'UTC' ( The time zone offset/abbreviation option NOT given by %z (depends on operating system) ) Known format : 'a' = 'Wed' ( An abbreviated textual representation of the day ) Known format : 'b' = 'Nov' ( Abbreviated month name, based on the locale ) Known format : 'c' = 'Wed Nov 6 01:50:58 2024' ( Preferred date and time stamp based on local ) Known format : 'd' = '06' ( Two-digit day of the month (with leading zeros) ) Known format : 'e' = ' 6' ( Day of the month, with a space preceding single digits ) Known format : 'f' = '%f' ( ) Known format : 'g' = '24' ( Two digit representation of the year going by ISO-8601:1988 standards (see %V) ) Known format : 'h' = 'Nov' ( Abbreviated month name, based on the locale (an alias of %b) ) Known format : 'i' = '%i' ( ) Known format : 'j' = '311' ( Day of the year, 3 digits with leading zeros ) Known format : 'k' = ' 1' ( Hour in 24-hour format, with a space preceding single digits ) Known format : 'l' = ' 1' ( Hour in 12-hour format, with a space preceding single digits ) Known format : 'm' = '11' ( Two digit representation of the month ) Known format : 'n' = ' ' ( A newline character ("\n") ) Known format : 'o' = '%o' ( ) Known format : 'p' = 'AM' ( UPPER-CASE "AM" or "PM" based on the given time ) Known format : 'q' = '%q' ( ) Known format : 'r' = '01:50:58 AM' ( Same as "%I:%M:%S %p" ) Known format : 's' = '1730857858' ( Unix Epoch Time timestamp ) Known format : 't' = ' ' ( A Tab character ("\t") ) Known format : 'u' = '3' ( ISO-8601 numeric representation of the day of the week ) Known format : 'v' = '%v' ( ) Known format : 'w' = '3' ( Numeric representation of the day of the week ) Known format : 'x' = '11/06/24' ( Preferred date representation based on locale, without the time ) Known format : 'y' = '24' ( Two digit representation of the year ) Known format : 'z' = '+0000' ( Either the time zone offset from UTC or the abbreviation (depends on operating system) ) Known format : '%' = '%' ( A literal percentage character ("%") )
Links
Date / Time
- checkdate
- date
- date_add
- date_create
- date_create_from_format
- date_create_immutable
- date_create_immutable_from_format
- date_date_set
- date_default_timezone_get
- date_default_timezone_set
- date_diff
- date_format
- date_get_last_errors
- date_interval_create_from_date_string
- date_interval_format
- date_isodate_set
- date_modify
- date_offset_get
- date_parse
- date_parse_from_format
- date_sub
- date_sun_info
- date_sunrise
- date_sunset
- date_time_set
- date_timestamp_get
- date_timestamp_set
- date_timezone_get
- date_timezone_set
- getdate
- gettimeofday
- gmdate
- gmmktime
- gmstrftime
- idate
- localtime
- microtime
- mktime
- strptime
- strtotime
- time
- timezone_abbreviations_list
- timezone_identifiers_list
- timezone_location_get
- timezone_name_from_abbr
- timezone_name_get
- timezone_offset_get
- timezone_open
- timezone_transitions_get
- timezone_version_get