|  | Posted by Martin on 01/15/08 02:48 
On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:37:49 +0100, thib´ <thyb0@coralsnake-team.com>wrote:
 
 >Martin wrote:
 >> On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:34:38 -0000, "Paul Lautman"
 >> <paul.lautman@btinternet.com> wrote:
 >>
 >>> Martin wrote:
 >>>> I'm retrieving some records from a database. One of the fields
 >>>> contains a date/time. I would like to format it as I send it out to
 >>>> the table in the displayed page.
 >>>>
 >>>> Can some one please tell me how I can/should do that? Or possibly
 >>>> point me to an on-line explanation?
 >>>>
 >>>> Thanks
 >>>>
 >>>> ps: if it makes any difference, the data is coming from a MS Access
 >>>> MDB file which I'm reading in via ODBC.
 >>> It is a 6 step process:
 >>>
 >>> Step 1) Point your browser at www.google.com
 >>> Step 2) In the search box type: php date formatting
 >>> Step 3) Click the button labelled "I'm Feeling Lucky"
 >>> Step 4) Read the manual page that you are presented with
 >>> Step 5) Think "Why did I bother posting this question to usenet when I could
 >>> have found the answer in an instant by doing steps 1-4"
 >>> Step 6) Vow to do the obvious and try to help myself in the fuure.
 >>>
 >>
 >> Thanks for the wise-ass answer Paul.
 >>
 >> The fact of the matter is, I already spent an hour or so Googling and
 >> experimenting with various things. In fact, I tried using the exact
 >> page that you so politely pointed out. But I quickly found out that
 >> that page actually explains how to format the system date value. As
 >> I'm sure you'll notice, if you would bother to read my question, I'm
 >> trying to format a date/time string that I'm retrieving from a
 >> database.
 >>
 >> I suggest that you re-word your step 5 to: Think "Why did I bother
 >> posting this question to a usenet group where I get smart-ass answers
 >> that don't do any good".
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >
 >Well, the fact that many users come here without even having opened the man'
 >might be bothering, you should consider that. Of course I agree that we're
 >also here to redirect people to what they need if the request is something
 >widely assumed as 'basic'; many people would just say "Google that!" whereas
 >the personal glossary of the OP simply needs one or two little more entries.
 >
 >In your case, I guess you aren't actually searching for date formatting, but
 >string formatting.
 >
 >http://php.net/manual/en/ref.strings.php
 >
 >You obviously don't need more than these native functions to do what you
 >want to. If your time is really running out, I suggest you start playing
 >with substr().
 >
 >If you feel like you need further reading, you might be interested in
 >Regular Expressions.
 >
 >http://www.regular-expressions.info/
 >http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php
 >
 >Despite all of that, you can also convert your date to a UNIX timestamp,
 >using string functions as well as mktime(), or, as Paul pointed out, with
 >strtotime() if you're confident with the source format. You'll then have no
 >problem to re-format the timestamp with date().
 >
 >You could have put a hand on these functions by reading a little further the
 >function references of "Date and Time" you should have found by following
 >Paul's "directives". Yep, I felt lucky, and he was right.
 >
 >http://php.net/manual/en/ref.datetime.php
 >
 >
 >"Google" vs "Direct-Help" is an everlasting debate.
 >No kittens are ate anyway, so keep your cool.
 >
 >-thib´
 
 Thanks, thib'
 
 Here's what I've ended up with:
 
 $FTS = date("m/d/y h:i:s A",strtotime(odbc_result($rs,"Date")));
 
 I initially had played around with the date function but couldn't get
 it to work with whatever format the data field is using. I then had
 tried the strtotime function but didn't understand what it was
 generating. All of this was before I posted my question.
 
 Based on your initial response (and, as you've reiterated now),
 combining the two gives me what I was looking for.
 
 Thanks again.
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