Formats

A Format is a representation on how to convert a PointInTime to a string, or vice versa.

By default this library comes with these formats:

use Innmind\TimeContinuum\Format;

Format::cookie();
Format::iso8601();
Format::rfc1036();
Format::rfc1123();
Format::rfc2822();
Format::rfc822();
Format::rfc850();
Format::rss();

Formats are wrapped in an object in order to give them a name. When used in your application you can reference these names instead of duplicating the strings everywhere.

Convert to a string

use Innmind\TimeContinuum\{
    Clock,
    Format,
};

echo Clock::live()
    ->now()
    ->format(Format::iso8601());

This would print something like '2024-11-24T14:50:00+00:00'.

Convert from a string

use Innmind\TimeContinuum\{
    Clock,
    Format,
    PointInTime,
};

$point = Clock::live()
    ->at('some string', Format::iso8601())
    ->match(
        static fn(PointInTime $point) => $point,
        static fn() => null,
    );

Here $point is null because 'some string' is not a valid date.

Define your own format

If you want to use your own format you can do this via Format::of('date format'). The string can be anything accepted by \DateTimeImmutable::format().

You're encouraged to statically define these formats somewhere in your program like this:

use Innmind\TimeContinuum\Format;

final class MyFormats
{
    public static function iso8601WithMicroseconds(): Format
    {
        return Format::of('Y-m-dT:H:i:s.uP');
    }
}