Laravel Date

This date library is extends Carbon with multi-language support. Methods such as format, diffForHumans and the new timespan, will now be translated based on your locale.

Installation

Add the package to your composer.json and run composer update.

{
    "require": {
        "jenssegers/date": "*"
    }
}

This package is compatible with Laravel 4 (but not limited to). If Laravel is detected, the language library from Laravel will be used instead of an own implementation.

Add the service provider in app/config/app.php:

'Jenssegers\Date\DateServiceProvider',

And add an alias:

'Date'            => 'Jenssegers\Date\Date',

Languages

This package contains language files for the following languages:

• English
• French
• Dutch
• German (incomplete)
• Swedish (incomplete)
• Turkish (incomplete)

You can easily add new languages by adding a new language file to the lang directory. These language entries support pluralization. By using a "pipe" character, you may separate the singular and plural forms of a string:

'hour'      => '1 hour|%number% hours',
'minute'    => '1 minute|%number% minutes',
'second'    => '1 second|%number% seconds',

If you are using Laravel, the locale set in app/config/app.php will be used to select the correct language file.

There is also a generator.php script that can be used to quickly output day and month translations for a specific locale. If you want to add a new language, this can speed up the process:

`php generator.php nl_NL`

Usage

The Date class extends Carbon methods such as format and diffForHumans so that they are translated based on your locale:

Lang::setLocale('nl');

echo Date::now()->format('l j F Y H:i:s'); // zondag 28 april 2013 21:58:16

echo Date::parse('-1 day')->diffForHumans(); // 1 dag geleden

The Date class also added some aliases and additional methods such as: ago which is an alias for diffForHumans, and the timespan method:

echo $date->timespan(); // 0 years, 3 months, 1 week, 1 day, 3 hours, 20 minutes, 0 seconds

Carbon

Carbon is the library the Date class is based on. All of the original Carbon operations are still available, check out https://github.com/briannesbitt/Carbon for more information.

Creating dates

You can create Date objects just like the DateTime object (http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.construct.php):

$date = new Date();
$date = new Date('2000-01-31');
$date = new Date('2000-01-31 12:00:00');

// With time zone
$date = new Date('2000-01-31', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Brussels'));

You can skip the creation of a DateTimeZone object:

$date = new Date('2000-01-31', 'Europe/Brussels');

Create Date objects from a relative format (http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.formats.relative.php):

$date = new Date('now');
$date = new Date('today');
$date = new Date('+1 hour');
$date = new Date('next monday');

This is also available using these static methods:

$date = Date::parse('now');
$date = Date::now();

Creating a Date from a timestamp:

$date = new Date(1367186296);

Or from an existing date or time:

$date = new Date::createFromDate(2000, 1, 31);
$date = new Date::createFromTime(12, 0, 0);
$date = new Date::create(2000, 1, 31, 12, 0, 0);

Formatting Dates

You can format a Date object like the DateTime object (http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php):

echo Date::now()->format('Y-m-d'); // 2000-01-31

The Date object can be cast to a string:

echo Date::now(); // 2000-01-31 12:00:00

Get a human readable output (alias for diffForHumans):

echo $date->ago(); // 5 days ago

Calculate a timespan:

$date = new Date('+1000 days');
echo Date::now()->timespan($date);
// 2 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 0 hour, 0 minute, 0 second

// or even
echo Date::now()->timespan('+1000 days');

Get years since date:

$date = new Date('-10 years');
echo $date->age; // 10

$date = new Date('+10 years');
echo $date->age; // -10

Manipulating Dates

You can manipulate by using the add and sub methods, with relative intervals (http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.formats.relative.php):

$yesterday = Date::now()->sub('1 day');
$tomorrow  = Date::now()->add('1 day');

// ISO 8601
$date = Date::now()->add('P2Y4DT6H8M');

You can access and modify all date attributes as an object:

$date->year = 2013:
$date->month = 1;
$date->day = 31;

$date->hour = 12;
$date->minute = 0;
$date->second = 0;