PHP | date_create(), date_format(), date_add() Functions

13 Jan, 2022
There is some point in time when we need to add a number of days, months, years, hours, minutes and seconds to Date and time. PHP serves us with several built-in functions to do this. Some built-in functions that we will discuss here are date_create(), date_format() and date_add(). 
date_create() Function
This function is used to create a DateTime object by using a date/time string and timezone. The default value of the date/time string is current date/time. Syntax: 
DateTime date_create(time, timezone);
Parameters:This function accepts two parameters:  
time : (optional) Specifies a date/time string. NULL or default value indicates the current date/time. You may refer to this link for supported date and time formats in PHP.timezone : (optional) Time zone of the time.
time : (optional) Specifies a date/time string. NULL or default value indicates the current date/time. You may refer to this link for supported date and time formats in PHP.
timezone : (optional) Time zone of the time.
Return Value: This function returns a new DateTime object which specifies a date. 
date_format() Function
The date_format() function formats a given date. The date is supplied as DateTime instance which is generally returned by the date_create() function and format is a string according to which we want to format the date.Syntax: 
string date_format(object, format);
Parameters : This function accepts two parameters, all of this which are mandatory to be supplied. 
object : Specifies a DateTime object returned by date_create()format : Specifies the format for the date. It accepts the formats that is supported by date() function in PHP. Example – H(24-hr Format), h(12-hr Format), i(minutes:00 to 59), s(seconds: 00 to 59) etc.  
object : Specifies a DateTime object returned by date_create()
format : Specifies the format for the date. It accepts the formats that is supported by date() function in PHP. Example – H(24-hr Format), h(12-hr Format), i(minutes:00 to 59), s(seconds: 00 to 59) etc.  
Return Value: The date_format() function returns a string which represents the date formatted according to the specified format on successful formatting otherwise it returns false on failure. 
PHP
<?php // using date_create() function to create// DateTime object$date=date_create("2018-03-15"); // using date_format() function to format dateecho date_format($date, "Y/m/d H:i:s"); ?>
Output: 
2018/03/15 00:00:00 
date_add() Function
The date_add() function is used to add days, months, years, hours, minutes and seconds to a Date. The Date is supplied as a DateTime object to the date_add() function and the interval which we want to add to our Date is supplied as a DateInterval object.Syntax:  
DateTime date_add(object, interval);
Parameters:This function accepts three parameters, all of this which are mandatory to be supplied.  
Object : Specifies a DateTime object returned by date_create(). This function returns a new DateTime object.Interval : Specifies a DateInterval object i.e it stores either a fixed amount of time (in years, months, days, hours etc) or a relative time string in the format that DateTime’s constructor supports.
Object : Specifies a DateTime object returned by date_create(). This function returns a new DateTime object.
Interval : Specifies a DateInterval object i.e it stores either a fixed amount of time (in years, months, days, hours etc) or a relative time string in the format that DateTime’s constructor supports.
Return Value : This function returns a DateTime object on success else FALSE on failure.Below programs illustrate the date_add() function in PHP:Example-1 
PHP
<?php // PHP program to add 40 days in date $date=date_create("2018-12-10"); date_add($date, date_interval_create_from_date_string("40 days")); echo date_format($date, "Y-m-d"); ?>
Output:  
2019-01-19
Example-2 
PHP
<?php //PHP program to add 1 year, 10 mins, 23 secs in date $date=date_create("2018-12-10"); date_add($date, date_interval_create_from_date_string("1 year                                      + 10 mins + 23 secs")); echo date_format($date, "Y-m-d H:i:s"); ?>
Output: 
2019-12-10 00:10:23
Note : Using ‘+’ operator we can add more to date and time.References: 
http://php.net/manual/en/datetime.format.php
http://php.net/manual/en/function.date-add.php
http://php.net/manual/en/datetime.construct.php
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