How to Convert mm-dd-YYYY Strings to YYYY-mm-dd Dates and DateTimes in PHP?

Converting a String to Date and DateTime

Converting a string in the mm-dd-YYYY format to a Date or DateTime object in the YYYY-mm-dd format is a common task in PHP development. Here's how you can achieve this:

Converting to Date:

The built-in strtotime() function can be used to convert the string to a PHP timestamp, which is a numerical representation of the date. From there, you can use the date() function with the 'Y-m-d' format to convert the timestamp back to a Date string:

$time = strtotime('10-16-2003');
$newFormat = date('Y-m-d', $time);

echo $newFormat; // Output: 2003-10-16

Converting to DateTime:

To convert the string to a DateTime object, you can use DateTime::createFromFormat(), specifying the original format and then assigning the Y-m-d format:

$datetime = DateTime::createFromFormat('m-d-Y', '10-16-2003');
$datetime->format('Y-m-d'); // Output: 2003-10-16

Note:

Be cautious when using the strtotime() function with dates in the mm-dd-YYYY format, as ambiguity may arise. The function assumes the American m/d/y format if a slash (/) is used as the separator, while it assumes the European d-m-y format if a dash (-) or dot (.) is used. For clarity and to avoid potential issues, it's recommended to use the DateTime::createFromFormat() function when possible.

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