DateInterval::format

Description

Formats the interval.

Parameters

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	-,

Return Values

Returns the formatted interval.

Changelog

Examples

DateInterval example

<?php
$interval = new DateInterval('P2Y4DT6H8M');
echo $interval->format('%d days');

The above example will output:

4 days

DateInterval and carry over points

<?php
$interval = new DateInterval('P32D');
echo $interval->format('%d days');

The above example will output:

32 days

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

Notes

See Also

• DateTime::diff