Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours, Third Edition

Converting a Timestamp with date()

You can use getdate() when you want to work with the elements it outputs. Sometimes, though, you only want to display the date as a string. The date() function returns a formatted string representing a date. You can exercise an enormous amount of control over the format that date() returns with a string argument you must pass to it. In addition to the format string, date() optionally accepts a timestamp. Table 16.2 lists the codes a format string can contain; any other data you include in the format string passed to date() is included in the return value.

Table 16.2. Format Codes for Use with date()

Format	Description	Example
a	am or pm lowercase	pm
A	AM or PM uppercase	PM
B	Swatch beat (timezone-free ’Internet time’) ...