Creating time object from string using date_create_from_format

Question

I have a $timeString formatted as 8:00 PM ET. I am trying to create a date object using the following:

$time = date_create_from_format('g:i A e', $timeString);

(source: http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.createfromformat.php)

When I echo the result using date("H:i:s", $time) I am getting 7:00 PM ET. No matter which time I provide, I always receive 7pm (which is 0:00 GMT).

Am I using the format parameters incorrectly?

I don't think ET is a valid timezone identifier. Try EST. — gen_Eric
– gen_Eric, Commented Feb 5, 2014 at 19:02

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-05 19:07:56Z

4

There are a few problems here. One is that ET is not a valid timezone identifier. Try using EST (or EDT). See: http://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.others.php

Second, date_create_from_format (or DateTime::createFromFormat) returns a DateTime object, so you cannot use it with the date() function.

Your code prints 00:00:00 because date_create_from_format failed, so it returned FALSE. date() expects the 2nd parameter to be an int, so it "converted" FALSE to 0. Because of that, you got 00:00:00.

You need to use the DateTime methods to work with a DateTime object. Like this:

$timeString = '8:00 PM EST';
$time = date_create_from_format('g:i A e', $timeString);

echo date_format($time, 'H:i:s');

answered Feb 5, 2014 at 19:07

gen_Eric

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2 Comments

Ben Packard Over a year ago

Thanks. Actually, once I was using date_format correctly, ET seems to be handled as expected. As you point out, the documentation doesn't mention it. Any ideas why it is working?

gen_Eric Over a year ago

@BenPackard: ET doesn't work for me, so no, no idea.

hindmost · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-05 19:05:22Z

2

date_create_from_format() returns DateTime object. whereas date() expect 2nd parameter to be a timestamp (int). So you shouldn't use date(). Use DateTime::format() instead.

answered Feb 5, 2014 at 19:05

hindmost

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