Why is date('F', $n) returning December only?

[lordvader]

I'm having some trouble with date()...

A simple while:

$i = 1;
while ($i <= 12) {
echo date('F', $i) . ":<br />";
$i++;
}

I thought the above would print a list of the names of every month... but instead it just prints December a whole bunch of times.

Similarly, I thought passing 'm' instead of 'F' would give me a list of: 01 02 03 04 etc, but instead it just gives me a bunch of 12's..

What's the deal?

 

tia

[Jeremysr]

The second argument of date() is supposed to be a timestamp, the number of seconds past January 1, 1970 midnight. So this loop checks the month when it's 1 to 12 seconds past midnight of January 1, 1970.

[cooldude832]

You could do an array

<?php
$months = array("","January","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","June","July","Aug","Sept","Oct","Nov","Dec");
$i = 1;
while($i <13){
echo $months[$i]."<br />";
}
?>

[kenrbnsn]

You need to do something like this:

<?php
for ($i=1;$i<13;$i++)
    echo date('F',strtotime('2008-' . $i . '-01')); . '<br>';
?>

 

Ken

[Psycho]

The second argument of date() is supposed to be a timestamp, the number of seconds past January 1, 1970 midnight. So this loop checks the month when it's 1 to 12 seconds past midnight of January 1, 1970.

 

You are correct that the second parameter is a timestamp and that a timestamp is supposed to be the number of seconds past January 1, 1970 midnight. However, if the OP was to follow your logic I suspect he is scratching his head because his results are returning 'December' - not January. I suspect this has to do with Daylight savings being in effect.

[kenrbnsn]

No, if the date() function can't figure out what the second argument is supposed to be, it defaults to "December 31, 1969".

 

Ken

[PFMaBiSmAd]

An array of names using a foreach() loop to output them would be the quickest executing code.

[Jeremysr]

No, if the date() function can't figure out what the second argument is supposed to be, it defaults to "December 31, 1969".

 

Ken

I don't think that's why it says December, though. If I try date() with a timestamp of 0, I get Dec. 31, 1969 6:00 pm. My timezone is GMT -6.

 

And by the way, here's a better way to get an array starting at index 1:

 

$months = array("January" => 1,"Feb","Mar","Apr","May","June","July","Aug","Sept","Oct","Nov","Dec");

[kenrbnsn]

Using

<?php
$months = array("January" => 1,"Feb","Mar","Apr","May","June","July","Aug","Sept","Oct","Nov","Dec");
?>

will not product the array starting at index 1.

This

<?php
$months = array(1 => "January","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","June","July","Aug","Sept","Oct","Nov","Dec");
?>

will.

 

Ken

[l0ve2hat3]

no this is easier

$i = 1;
while ($i <= 12) {
echo date('F', strtotime($i.'/1/2008')) . ":<br />";
$i++;
}

[lordvader]

Ah, thanks everybody!

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Both methods -

 

<?php
// one method
$s1 = microtime(true);
$i = 1;
while ($i <= 12) {
echo date('F', strtotime($i.'/1/2008')) . ":<br />";
$i++;
}
$e1 = microtime(true);

// another method
$s2 = microtime(true);
$months = array("January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December");
foreach($months as $month)
echo "$month:<br />";
$e2 = microtime(true);

// output the time
$t1 = $e1 - $s1;
$t2 = $e2 - $s2;
echo "First: $t1,<br />Second: $t2<br />";
?>

 

And the time for them:

 

First: 0.00055980682373047,

Second: 1.9073486328125E-5

 

560 micro seconds vs 19 micro seconds

[l0ve2hat3]

u win