A practical guide to formatting dates in PHP covering the difference between date() and DateTimeImmutable::format(), when to use each, a cheat sheet of common format patterns and tokens, handling Unix timestamps, timezone management, escaping text in format strings, and working with microseconds and milliseconds.
Table of contents
Introductiondate() vs DateTimeImmutable::format()What about date_format() ?PHP date format cheat sheetThe most useful PHP date format charactersCommon PHP date format examplesHow to format a Unix timestamp in PHPHow to format dates with DateTimeImmutableTime zones: where date() starts to feel too smallHow to escape text in a PHP date format stringMicroseconds and millisecondsWhen date() is not enoughConclusion5K Impressions