Changing Date Format, Possible?

[JeffWalden]

Currently I offer the customer to view an upcoming calendar. This is done by selecting the desired date from a drop menu. Seen here:

while ($list = mysql_fetch_array($soups)) {
$date = $list["Day"];
echo("<option value='$date'>$date</option>"); 

The value "Day" is stored in the database as YYYY-MM-DD; nothing abnormal. However, this confuses customers and I can see why. Is this possible to change to a readable format?

After putting some thought into it, I would need to disect the value and piece it together in a new order with 3 variables, right? I just can't seem to get it to work.

Thanks guys!

[jofa]

date
(PHP 3, PHP 4 )

date -- Format a local time/date
Description
string date ( string format [, int timestamp])


Returns a string formatted according to the given format string using the given integer timestamp or the current local time if no timestamp is given.

[WhSox21]

Im not sure if this is what you were looking for, but here's some code that might help:

<?php
while ($list = mysql_fetch_array($soups)) {
$date = $list["Day"];
list ($year, $month, $day) = split ('[/.-]', $date);
if($month==01) {
$month = "January";
} elseif($month==02) {
$month = "Febuary";
} elseif($month==03) {
$month = "March";
} elseif($month==04) {
$month = "April";
} elseif($month==05) {
$month = "May";
} elseif($month==06) {
$month = "June";
} elseif($month==07) {
$month = "July";
} elseif($month==08) {
$month = "August";
} elseif($month==09) {
$month = "September";
} elseif($month==10) {
$month = "October";
} elseif($month==11) {
$month = "November";
} elseif($month==12) {
$month = "December";
}
$date = $month.' '.$day.', '.$year;
echo("<option value='$date'>$date</option>" ); 
?>

[jofa]

BTW, why are customers confused by YYYY-MM-DD?
That's the ISO standard for dates
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html

[JeffWalden]

I read that before, and it didn't really help. Could you please explain?

[jofa]

Example:
echo "<option value='$date'>" .date("l F j Y", $date) ."</option>";
should print out
<option value="2003-05-30">Friday May 30 2003</option>

Edit: Forgot... $date can't be a string, must be a timestamp...
Correct code
list($y, $m, $d) = explode("-", $date);
echo "<option value='$date'>" .date("l F j Y", mktime(0, 0, 0, $m, $d, $y)) ."</option>";

[WhSox21]

Learn something new every day. I didn't know you could do that jofa? Thanks for that!

[triexa]

I live in Canada, and doing a lot of work in BOTH USA and Canada... I find it VERY annoying to distinguish whether the date is MM/DD or DD/MM... as they are in different orders in the different countries... I wish everyone would just use naming in the date... heh

[jofa]

Learn something new every day. ...

Of course, if you want the month names in another language than English, I guess an array of translations is the only way to do it?

Comment: All those if...elseif? Why not use switch?

[jofa]

... I wish everyone would just use naming in the date... heh

In French, English - or Inuktituk?

[Jeff Lange]

date('l F j Y', strtotime($date)); 

strtotime() handles a LOT of date-formats.

[triexa]

In French, English - or Inuktituk?

In whatever language the rest of the text on the page is in?

[JeffWalden]

Thanks guys! Worked perfectly.

[triexa]

Great to hear!