DateFormat

The DateFormat function is another really useful function. This is most helpful when using a timestamp from a database. Generally, I use the 'datetime' format from MySQL and the 'smalldatetime' format when using MSSQL. The date is returned as '2007-01-01 00:00:00'. In PHP, the best way to use dates is the Unix timestamp. The Unix timestamp is the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT). So right now, the time is '2007-12-16 11:46:56', using Unix, the timestamp the time is '1197823616' or 1197823616 seconds since midnight January 1 1970. This function will still use the date formating as defined in the php function date(). You can check it out at php.net. One little problem with this function is that you are required to send a full date through.

The Function:
<?php
function DateFormat($date,$format)
{
$adbit = explode(" ",$date);
$bdbit = explode("-",$adbit[0]);
if(count($adbit) > 1)
{
$cdbit = explode(":",$adbit[1]);
}
else
{
$cdbit = array();
$cdbit[0] = 0;
$cdbit[1] = 0;
$cdbit[2] = 0;
}
if(strtolower($format) == "short")
{
$dformat = "m/d/Y";
$tformat = "H:i a";
}
elseif(strtolower($format) == "medium")
{
$dformat = "M d, Y";
$tformat = "H:i:s a";
}
elseif(strtolower($format) == "long")
{
$dformat = "F d, Y";
$tformat = "H:i:s a e";
}
elseif(strtolower($format) == "full")
{
$dformat = "l F d, Y";
$tformat = "H:i:s a e";
}
if(isset($dformat) && isset($tformat))
{
$date = date($dformat,mktime($cdbit[0],$cdbit[1],$cdbit[2],$bdbit[1],$bdbit[2],$bdbit[0])) . " " . date($tformat,mktime($cdbit[0],$cdbit[1],$cdbit[2],$bdbit[1],$bdbit[2],$bdbit[0]));
}
else
{
$date = date($format,mktime($cdbit[0],$cdbit[1],$cdbit[2],$bdbit[1],$bdbit[2],$bdbit[0]));
}
return $date;
}
?>

Usage:

<?php
$date = "2007-05-19 13:51:22";
// You can use either
echo DateFormat($date,"F d, Y, g:i a");
// Or you can use
echo DateFormat($date,"long");
?>

The resulting output is: May 19, 2007 1:51 pm