Convert DateTime to String in PHP

This article demonstrates how to convert a DateTime object to a string in PHP.

You can use the format() function of the DateTime class to convert a DateTime object to string in PHP. The DateTime::format function returns the date formatted according to the given format.

<?php

$date = new DateTime("2017/10/25 18:30:10");

$str = $date->format("Y/m/d H:i:s");

var_dump($str); // string(19) "2017/10/25 18:30:10"

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Alternatively, you can use the date_format() function to get the formatted date according to the given format. Note that date_format() is an alias of the DateTime::format() function.

<?php

$date = date_create("2017/10/25 18:30:10");

$str = date_format($date, "Y/m/d H:i:s");

var_dump($str); // string(19) "2017/10/25 18:30:10"

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There are some predefined constants defined in the DateTimeInterface interface that can be used with the format() function:

ATOM = Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP
COOKIE = l, d-M-Y H:i:s T
ISO8601 = Y-m-d\\TH:i:sO
ISO8601_EXPANDED = X-m-d\\TH:i:sP
RFC822 = D, d M y H:i:s O
RFC850 = l, d-M-y H:i:s T
RFC1036 = D, d M y H:i:s O
RFC1123 = D, d M Y H:i:s O
RFC7231 = D, d M Y H:i:s \\G\\M\\T
RFC2822 = D, d M Y H:i:s O
RFC3339 = Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP
RFC3339_EXTENDED = Y-m-d\\TH:i:s.vP
RSS = D, d M Y H:i:s O
W3C = Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP

To demonstrate, the following solution uses DateTimeInterface::RFC1036 constant, which corresponds to the RFC 1036 pattern "D, d M y H:i:s O".

<?php

$date = new DateTime("2017/10/25 18:30:10");

$str = $date->format(DateTimeInterface::RFC1036);

var_dump($str); // string(29) "Wed, 25 Oct 17 18:30:10 +0200"

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Finally, returning the current date and time in some specific format can be as simple as:

<?php

$date = new DateTime();

$str = $date->format("Y/m/d H:i:s");

var_dump($str); // string(19) "2017/10/17 08:57:46"

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That’s all about converting a DateTime object to a string in PHP.

Convert DateTime to String in PHP

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