PHP | idate() Function

Hello folks! welcome back to a new edition of our tutorial on PHP. In this tutorial guide, we are going to be studying about the PHP idate() Function.

The built-in PHP idate() function accepts a format string as a parameter, then formats the local date/time in the specified format and returns it.

Syntax

Following below is the syntax to use this function -

idate($format, [$timestamp])

READ: PHP | date() Function

Parameter Details

Sr.No	Parameter & Description
1	format(Mandatory) This is a string value representing the format in which you need to format the local date/time.
2	timestamp(Optional) This is a an integer representing the timestamp which refers to the current local time.

Return Value

This built-in PHP function returns an integer value which represents the formatted date and time.

PHP Version

This function was first introduced as part of core PHP version 5.0 and, it works with all of the later versions.

Example1

Following example illustrates the usage of the PHP idate() function -

<?php
   $format = "U";
   $res = idate($format);
   print("Timestamp: ".$res);
?>

Output

When the above code is executed, it will produce the following result -

Timestamp: 1606054288

Example2

The following example invokes the idate() function using timestamp parameter -

<?php
   $date = date_create();
   $timestamp = date_timestamp_get($date);
   $format = "U";
   $res = idate($format, $timestamp);
   print("Timestamp: ".$res);
?>

Output

When the above code is executed, it will produce the following result -

Timestamp: 1606054347

Example3

Now let's see the various format characters for the idate() function and their results -

<?php
   print("B :".idate("B"));
   print("\n");
   print("d :".idate("d"));
   print("\n");
   print("h :".idate("h"));
   print("\n");
   print("H: ".idate("H"));
   print("\n");
   print("i :".idate("i"));
   print("\n"); 
   print("I :".idate("I"));
   print("\n");
   print("L :".idate("L"));
   print("\n");
   print("m :".idate("m"));
   print("\n");
   print( "s :".idate("s"));
   print("\n");
   print("t :".idate("t"));
   print("\n");
   print("U :".idate("U"));
   print("\n");
   print("w :".idate("w"));
   print("\n");
   print("w:".idate("W"));
   print("\n");
   print("y :".idate("y"));
   print("\n");
   print("Y :".idate("Y"));
   print("\n");
   print("z :".idate("z"));
   print("\n");
   print("Z :".idate("Z"));
   print("\n");
?>

Output

When the above code is executed, it will produce the following result -

B :634 
d :22 
h :2 
H: 14 
i :13 
I :0 
L :1 
m :11 
s :22 
t :30 
U :1606054402 
w :0 
w:47 
y :20 
Y :2020 
z :326 
Z :0

Example4

Try the following example -

<?php
   $timestamp = strtotime('1st January 2014');   
   echo idate('y', $timestamp);
   echo"\n";
   echo idate('t', $timestamp);
?>

Output

When the above code is executed, it will produce the following result -

14
31

READ: PHP | gmstrftime() Function

Alright guys! This is where we are going to be rounding up for this tutorial post. In our next tutorial, we are going to be discussing about the PHP localtime() Function.

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