How can I add months to a date string such as 201308 (for August

Question

Asked: June 17, 20262026-06-17T05:42:03+00:00 2026-06-17T05:42:03+00:00

How can I add months to a date string such as 201308 (for August 2013) and return it in the same format, ie 201408 (for August 2014)? I’ve tried:

$dateToDflt = "201308";
$dateToDflt = strtotime(date("Ym", strtotime($dateToDflt)) . " +12 months");
$dateToDflt = date("Ym",$dateToDflt);

This just brings back 12 months ahead of the today’s date so I think I’m getting my time and date formats confused

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Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-06-17T05:42:05+00:00

Editorial Team

$date = DateTime::createFromFormat('Ym', $dateToDflt);
$date->modify('+12 months')
$dateToDflt = $date->format('Ym');

Or simple string manipulation including casting

$dateToDflt[3] = $dateToDflt[3] + 1;

Of course works only for years 2010 to 2018. To extend to range to 2098, add this 😉

$dateToDflt[2] += (int) ($dateToDflt[3] == 0);

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