Formatting a Carbon date instance

Question

I have an array that returns the following date time:

$item['created_at'] => "2015-10-28 19:18:44"

How do I change the date to M d Y format in Laravel using Carbon?

Currently it returns with an error

$suborder['payment_date'] = $item['created_at']->format('M d Y');

Amadus

Seems like the created_at doesn't contain an instance of a carbon object. – Helbona

@Helbona yup, so how can i convert it to one? – Amadus

Are you converting the model into an array? Because by default, it is a Carbon instance. – Fala

And not yet asked, is there a very special out-of-scale need for renaming created_at to payment_date? Just use $payment->created_at in your blade template directly. – Disaffirm

And: created_at is a Laravel-internal column, you have it automatically when you use $table->timestamps() in your migration file. Plus you should NOT set it by your own. – Disaffirm

@Helbona that might be the case when $table->timestamps(); is later used when there is already data around. Then maybe use a "helper" function to handle null values, like function formatCarbon (Carbon $carbon = null) : string { ... } – Disaffirm

Answer 1

First parse the created_at field as Carbon object.

$createdAt = Carbon::parse($item['created_at']);

Then you can use

$suborder['payment_date'] = $createdAt->format('M d Y');

Claudetta

Answer 2

Date Casting for Laravel 6.x and 7.x

/**
* The attributes that should be cast.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $casts = [
   'created_at' => 'datetime:Y-m-d',
   'updated_at' => 'datetime:Y-m-d',
   'deleted_at' => 'datetime:Y-m-d h:i:s'
];

It easy for Laravel 5 in your Model add property protected $dates = ['created_at', 'cached_at']. See detail here https://laravel.com/docs/5.2/eloquent-mutators#date-mutators

Date Mutators: Laravel 5.x

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model
{
   /**
   * The attributes that should be mutated to dates.
   *
   * @var array
   */
   protected $dates = ['created_at', 'updated_at', 'deleted_at'];
}

You can format date like this $user->created_at->format('M d Y'); or any format that support by PHP.

Pout

I tried this approach but when the field is null it converts into a weird date: 'date_confirmation' => string '-0001-11-30 00:00:00' (length=20). You know why is doing this and how I can solve it? – Suave

This is a per-usage approach. I look for a more general approach, means a config entry and All Carbon\Carbon attributes are formatted the same (I already use protected $dates = ['my_date_at'];). – Disaffirm

Answer 3

$suborder['payment_date'] = Carbon::parse($item['created_at'])->format('M d Y');

Gide

Payment->created_at is then renamed to payment_date and no usage of direct Payment class (Eloquent model) which allows only array $item as type-hint. Maybe not what you want? – Disaffirm

May I ask why I'm getting down-votes for this answer? I just got -2 which feels a bit unfair because my critics are at 2nd thought good. – Disaffirm

Answer 4

If you are using eloquent model (by looking at your code, i think you are), you dont need to convert it into array. Just use it as object. Becaus elike Thomas Kim said, by default it is a Carbon instance

So it should be

$suborder['payment_date'] = $item->created_at->format('Y-m-d')

But if it is not then, you need convert it to Carbon object as Milan Maharjan answer

$createdAt = Carbon::parse($item['created_at']);

Splenectomy

Good point with Payment $payment usage, so no need for converting it to array, you can always use direct Eloquent model objects in your blade templates. But still I would prefer not renaming created_at to payment_date. – Disaffirm

Answer 5

Declare in model:

class ModelName extends Model
{      

 protected $casts = [
    'created_at' => 'datetime:d/m/Y', // Change your format
    'updated_at' => 'datetime:d/m/Y',
];

Vendor

This is already a better solution as it is a per-model-approach, yet a bit incomplete. For Laravel's internal columns created_at and updated_at there is no need for protected $dates = []; in your Model. But if you have custom columns like I have, you have add those to that array and don't add protected $timestamps = true; to your model as this is the default. – Disaffirm

Answer 6

Laravel 5 timestamps are instances of Carbon class, so you can directly call Carbon's string formatting method on your timestamps. Something like this in your view file.

{{$task->created_at->toFormattedDateString()}}

http://carbon.nesbot.com/docs/#api-formatting

Jurisdiction

This is only true for records been created after created_at has been added, e.g. by adding $table->timestamps() to your migration file, for records before it, created_at will be NULL and then this will trigger an error about a method call on a non-object call. – Disaffirm

Answer 7

Try that:

$createdAt = Carbon::parse(date_format($item['created_at'],'d/m/Y H:i:s');
$createdAt= $createdAt->format('M d Y');

Hsu

No need for this, created_at is converted to Carbon\Carbon automatically, if protected $timestamps = false; is NOT set. You also need a $table->timestamps(); in your migration file. – Disaffirm

Answer 8

just use

Carbon::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $item['created_at'])->format('M d Y');

Reagan

Answer 9

This is how I do. It also shows AM/PM.

$user->updated_at->format('M, d Y H:i:s A')

Domini

Answer 10

If you are using eloquent just use this:

$order->created_at->format('D, M d, Y h:i A')

NOTE: edit your own format.

Lorant

simplest solution – Faint

Answer 11

Just use the date() and strtotime() function and save your time

$suborder['payment_date'] = date('d-m-Y', strtotime($item['created_at']));

Don't stress!!!

Appraisal

Answer 12

Add a casts property to your model

protected $casts = [
'created_at' => 'date', 
'payment_date' => 'date'
];

If you would also want to format datetime just add datetime instead of date

protected $casts = [
'created_at' => 'datetime',
'payment_date' => 'datetime'
]

Feme

Answer 13

use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;

$item['created_at'] = '2015-10-28 19:18:44';


$suborder['payment_date'] = Carbon::parse($item['created_at'])->format('M d Y');

Complot

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