The createFromFormat Method of the DateTime Class

The static method createFromFormat of the DateTime class allows creating a DateTime object from a string that matches the specified format. It accepts three parameters: the date format, a string with the date, and an optional DateTimeZone object. Returns a DateTime object or false in case of an error.

Syntax

phpDateTime::createFromFormat(
  string $format,
  string $datetime,
  DateTimeZone $timezone = null
): DateTime|false

Example

Let's create a date from a string in the day-month-year format:

php<?php
  $date = DateTime::createFromFormat('d-m-Y', '15-07-2023');
  echo $date->format('Y-m-d');
?>

Code execution result:

php'2023-07-15'

Example

Let's create a date and time from a string in a non-standard format:

php<?php
  $date = DateTime::createFromFormat('Y/m/d H:i', '2023/07/15 14:30');
  echo $date->format('d.m.Y H:i:s');
?>

Code execution result:

php'15.07.2023 14:30:00'

Example

Let's create a date with a timezone specified:

php<?php
  $timezone = new DateTimeZone('Europe/Moscow');
  $date = DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2023-07-15 14:30:00', $timezone);
  echo $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s e');
?>

Code execution result:

php'2023-07-15 14:30:00 Europe/Moscow'

See Also