PHP 8.1: strftime() is deprecated - php

Question

When upgrading to PHP 8.1, I got an error regarding "strftime".
How do I correct the code to correctly display the full month name in any language?
$date = strftime("%e %B %Y", strtotime('2010-01-08'))

Answer 1

To my dear and late strftime()... I found a way to adapt with IntlDateFormatter::formatObject and here is the link for the references to the schemas:
https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/datetime/#date-field-symbol-table
... For those who want to format the date more precisely
// "date_default_timezone_set" may be required by your server
date_default_timezone_set( 'Europe/Paris' );
// make a DateTime object
// the "now" parameter is for get the current date,
// but that work with a date recived from a database
// ex. replace "now" by '2022-04-04 05:05:05'
$dateTimeObj = new DateTime('now', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Paris'));
// format the date according to your preferences
// the 3 params are [ DateTime object, ICU date scheme, string locale ]
$dateFormatted =
IntlDateFormatter::formatObject(
$dateTimeObj,
'eee d MMMM y à HH:mm',
'fr'
);
// test :
echo ucwords($dateFormatted);
// output : Jeu. 7 Avril 2022 à 04:56

Answer 2

I've chosen to use php81_bc/strftime composer package as a replacement.
Here the documentation.
Pay attention that the output could be different from native strftime 'cause php81_bc/strftime uses a different library for locale aware formatting (ICU).
Note that output can be slightly different between libc sprintf and this function as it is using ICU.

Answer 3

You can use the IntlDateFormatter class. The class works independently of the locales settings. With a function like this
function formatLanguage(DateTime $dt,string $format,string $language = 'en') : string {
$curTz = $dt->getTimezone();
if($curTz->getName() === 'Z'){
//INTL don't know Z
$curTz = new DateTimeZone('UTC');
}
$formatPattern = strtr($format,array(
'D' => '{#1}',
'l' => '{#2}',
'M' => '{#3}',
'F' => '{#4}',
));
$strDate = $dt->format($formatPattern);
$regEx = '~\{#\d\}~';
while(preg_match($regEx,$strDate,$match)) {
$IntlFormat = strtr($match[0],array(
'{#1}' => 'E',
'{#2}' => 'EEEE',
'{#3}' => 'MMM',
'{#4}' => 'MMMM',
));
$fmt = datefmt_create( $language ,IntlDateFormatter::FULL, IntlDateFormatter::FULL,
$curTz, IntlDateFormatter::GREGORIAN, $IntlFormat);
$replace = $fmt ? datefmt_format( $fmt ,$dt) : "???";
$strDate = str_replace($match[0], $replace, $strDate);
}
return $strDate;
}
you can use format parameters like for datetime.
$dt = date_create('2022-01-31');
echo formatLanguage($dt, 'd F Y','pl'); //31 stycznia 2022
There are extension classes for DateTime that have such functions integrated as methods.
echo dt::create('2022-01-31')->formatL('d F Y','pl');

Answer 4

The strftime is obsolete and DateTime::format() provide a quick replacement and IntlDateFormatter::format() provied a more sophisticated slution.
this links will be help you:
https://github.com/modxcms/revolution/issues/15864
https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/1cf4fb739f7a4fa8404a4c0958f13d04eae519d4/UPGRADING#L379-L381
https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.format.php

Answer 5

strftime is deprecated PHP 8.1, You can use date function.
$date = date("%e F Y", strtotime('2010-01-08'))

Answer 6

Hey I have also experienced this issue as well so after some research on PHP's official documentation here what I found!
https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.strftime.php
They are saying that it is depricated and use setlocale() function
this also work same as strftime().
For more information please visit official PHP docs of setlocale() https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.setlocale.php

Answer 7

A quick and simple replacement for the deprecated function strftime can be following.
Instead of using (taking the sample from the question)
$date = strftime("%e %B %Y", strtotime('2010-01-08'))
convert that to:
$date = date('d M Y', strtotime('2010-01-08')