(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)
DateInterval::format — Formats the interval
format
format character |
Description | Example values |
|---|---|---|
% |
Literal % |
% |
Y |
Years, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0 | 01, 03 |
y |
Years, numeric | 1, 3 |
M |
Months, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0 | 01, 03, 12 |
m |
Months, numeric | 1, 3, 12 |
D |
Days, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0 | 01, 03, 31 |
d |
Days, numeric | 1, 3, 31 |
a |
Total number of days as a result of a DateTime::diff() or (unknown) otherwise |
4, 18, 8123 |
H |
Hours, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0 | 01, 03, 23 |
h |
Hours, numeric | 1, 3, 23 |
I |
Minutes, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0 | 01, 03, 59 |
i |
Minutes, numeric | 1, 3, 59 |
S |
Seconds, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0 | 01, 03, 57 |
s |
Seconds, numeric | 1, 3, 57 |
F |
Microseconds, numeric, at least 6 digits with leading 0 | 007701, 052738, 428291 |
f |
Microseconds, numeric | 7701, 52738, 428291 |
R |
Sign "-" when negative, "+" when positive |
-, + |
r |
Sign "-" when negative, empty when positive |
-, |
Returns the formatted interval.
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 7.2.12 | The F and f format
will now always be positive. |
| 7.1.0 | The F and f format
characters were added. |
Example #1 DateInterval example
<?php
$interval = new DateInterval('P2Y4DT6H8M');
echo $interval->format('%d days');
?>The above example will output:
4 days
Example #2 DateInterval and carry over points
<?php
$interval = new DateInterval('P32D');
echo $interval->format('%d days');
?>The above example will output:
32 days
Example #3 DateInterval and DateTime::diff() with the %a and %d modifiers
<?php
$january = new DateTime('2010-01-01');
$february = new DateTime('2010-02-01');
$interval = $february->diff($january);
// %a will output the total number of days.
echo $interval->format('%a total days')."\n";
// While %d will only output the number of days not already covered by the
// month.
echo $interval->format('%m month, %d days');
?>The above example will output:
31 total days 1 month, 0 days
Note:
The DateInterval::format() method does not recalculate carry over points in time strings nor in date segments. This is expected because it is not possible to overflow values like
"32 days"which could be interpreted as anything from"1 month and 4 days"to"1 month and 1 day".
Pls note these important abbreviations;
P: period
Y: years
M: months
D: days
T: time
H: hours
M: minutes
S: seconds
The above is from the ISO 8601 - an international standard that defines how to use, store, and transfer date, time, and duration information.