Translating PHP date() for Multilingual Site - php

Question

I'm trying to create a conditional translation of the PHP internal date() function. Is it possible to somehow redefine the internal variables - e.g. - date('M'), date('y') etc so that different strings are fed into the remainder of the PHP function on the basis of this test:
if (ICL_LANGUAGE_CODE == 'fr') { }
The following is a working example of the code I'm using for a dates module. Since $date is defined with many variables contained in this definition it's important to conditionally re-define the variables within PHP's date() first in order to avoid having to redefine the variable 100 times or more within each key.
if($start <= $end):
if($start == $end):
//Month Day, Year
$date = date('F', $start).' '.date('j',$start).', '.date('Y', $start);
else:
if($start_year == $end_year):
if($start_month == $end_month):
//Month Day - Day, Year
$date = date('F', $start).' '.date('j',$start).' - '.date('j', $end).', '.date('Y', $start);
else:
//Month Day - Month Day, Year
$date = date('F', $start).' '.date('j',$start).' - '.date('F', $end).' '.date('j', $end).', '.date('Y', $start);
endif;
else:
//Month Day, Year - Month Day, Year
$date = date('F', $start).' '.date('j',$start).', '.date('Y', $start).' - '.date('F', $end).' '.date('j', $end).', '.date('Y', $end);
endif;
endif;
endif;

Answer 1

Whenever you need to manipulate date/time stamps based on locale, you should use strftime:
switch ($lang) {
case 'en':
setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_CA.UTF-8');
echo strftime("%B %e, %G");
break;
case 'fr':
setlocale(LC_TIME, 'fr_CA.UTF-8');
echo strftime("%e %B %G");
break;
}
Results:
February 11, 2011 // en
11 février 2011 // fr
Of course, you need to have the locales installed on your system. In Ubuntu per example:
bash-4.1$ sudo locale-gen fr_CA.UTF-8
EDIT in may 2022
strftime() has been DEPRECATED as of PHP 8.1.0
This is how you should do it:
$fmt = datefmt_create(
'pt_BR', // The output language.
\IntlDateFormatter::FULL,
\IntlDateFormatter::FULL,
pattern: "cccc, d 'de' LLLL 'de' YYYY" // The output formatting.
);
$input = strtotime('20-06-2022');
$output = datefmt_format($fmt, $input);
var_dump($output); // Outputs "segunda-feira, 20 de junho de 2022".
As for strtotime() use:
slash (/) for American M/D/Y formatting;
dash (-) for European D-M-Y formatting and
period (.) for ISO Y.M.D formatting.
In my sample I am using the european day-month-year formatting.
Click here to see how to format the value of $pattern parameter in datefmt_create().
You must have the intl package installed:
$ sudo apt install php8.1-intl
Change the 8.1 bit to the php version you are working with.

Answer 2

$date = date('F', $start).' '.date('j',$start).', '.date('Y', $start);
That's a rather painful way to go about. The format string in date() doesn't have to be a single character. This line could be reduced to
$date = date('F j Y');
And given that, you could have a simple
switch($whats_my_locale) {
case 'FR':
$format = 'date format characters for a french date';
break
case 'EN' :
$format = 'format chars for english date'
break
case etc....
default:
$format = 'default date format string here';
}
$local_date_string = date($format, $start);
and off you go.

Answer 3

I'm sure you have, but have you considered just using the numeric values?
Also, if you do use them, remember the US has months / day, opposite to the UK and others.

Answer 4

I was looking for this lately and I found out a way to translate datetime in php.
Let's take the fr example
First I created a new Class that extend GlobalDateTime
in App\Core\DateTime.php
namespace App\Core;
use DateTime as GlobalDateTime;
class DateTime extends GlobalDateTime
{
public function __construct($str_date = "now")
{
parent::__construct($str_date);
}
public function toLocalTimeString(): string
{
$Y = $this->format('Y');
$M = $this->_get('month', $this->format('m'));
$l = $this->_get('day', $this->format('l'));
$d = $this->format('d');
$H = $this->format('H');
$i = $this->format('i');
return "$l $d $M $Y à $H:$i";
}
private function _get($key, $id): string
{
return [
'day' => [
0 => "Dim",
1 => "Lun",
2 => "Mar",
3 => "Mer",
4 => "Jeu",
5 => "Ven",
6 => "Sam",
"Sun" => "Dim",
"Mon" => "Lun",
"Tue" => "Mar",
"Wed" => "Mer",
"Thu" => "Jeu",
"Fri" => "Ven",
"Sat" => "Sam",
"Sunday" => "Dimanche",
"Monday" => "Lundi",
"Tuesday" => "Mardi",
"Wednesday" => "Mercredi",
"Thursday" => "Jeudi",
"Friday" => "Vendredi",
"Saturday" => "Samedi",
],
'month' => [
"01" => "Jan",
"02" => "Fév",
"03" => "Mar",
"04" => "Avr",
"05" => "Mai",
"06" => "Juin",
"07" => "Juil",
"08" => "Aôut",
"09" => "Sept",
"10" => "Oct",
"11" => "Nov",
"12" => "Déc",
],
][$key][$id];
}
}
And then I can call it wherever I want like
use App\Core\DateTime;
$datetime = new DateTime('now');
$strdatetime = $datetime->toLocalTimeString(); // return vendredi 18 Aôut 2022 à 08:00
You can custom this DateTime class as you like
I hope this will help you.