String Formatting

All of the available toXXXString() methods rely on the base class method DateTime::format(). You'll notice the __toString() method is defined which allows a Carbon instance to be printed as a pretty date time string when used in a string context.

php

$dt = Carbon::create(1975, 12, 25, 14, 15, 16);

var_dump($dt->toDateTimeString() == $dt);     // bool(true) // => uses __toString()
echo $dt->toDateString();                     // 1975-12-25
echo $dt->toFormattedDateString();            // Dec 25, 1975
echo $dt->toFormattedDayDateString();         // Thu, Dec 25, 1975
echo $dt->toTimeString();                     // 14:15:16
echo $dt->toDateTimeString();                 // 1975-12-25 14:15:16
echo $dt->toDayDateTimeString();              // Thu, Dec 25, 1975 2:15 PM

// ... of course format() is still available
echo $dt->format('l jS \\of F Y h:i:s A');    // Thursday 25th of December 1975 02:15:16 PM

// The reverse hasFormat method allows you to test if a string looks like a given format
var_dump(Carbon::hasFormat('Thursday 25th December 1975 02:15:16 PM', 'l jS F Y h:i:s A')); // bool(true)

You can also set the default __toString() format (which defaults to Y-m-d H:i:s) that's used when type juggling occurs.

php

$dt = Carbon::create(1975, 12, 25, 14, 15, 16);
echo $dt;     // 1975-12-25 14:15:16
echo "\n";   

$dt->settings([
	'toStringFormat' => 'jS \o\f F, Y g:i:s a',
]);

echo $dt;     // 25th of December, 1975 2:15:16 pm

// As any setting, you can get the current value for a given date using:
var_dump($dt->getSettings());
/*
array(2) {
  ["toStringFormat"]=>
  string(20) "jS \o\f F, Y g:i:s a"
  ["timezone"]=>
  string(3) "UTC"
}
*/

As part of the settings 'toStringFormat' can be used in factories too. It also may be a closure, so you can run any code on string cast.

If you use Carbon 1 or want to apply it globally as default format, you can use:

php

$dt = Carbon::create(1975, 12, 25, 14, 15, 16);
Carbon::setToStringFormat('jS \o\f F, Y g:i:s a');

echo $dt;     // 25th of December, 1975 2:15:16 pm
echo "\n";   

Carbon::resetToStringFormat();

echo $dt;     // 1975-12-25 14:15:16

Note: For localization support see the Localization section.

String Formatting ​

String Formatting