Question

I am trying to use php datetime object for handling dates.

Here is my code:

$date = new DateTime('01 Dec, 1969');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d');

The above code returns 2010-12-01

But If I change year from 1969 to 1945 or anything less than 1960 then the code returns incorrect year. For example:

This code:

$date = new DateTime('01 Dec, 1950');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d');

returns
2010-12-01

Answer 1

This is likely a bug. Consider filing it to the bugtracker.

When you change the input format to

$date = new DateTime('Dec 1st, 1950');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d');

PHP will correctly make this into

1950-12-01

See http://codepad.org/trFfB6Q1

---

As of PHP5.3, you can also use DateTime::createFromFormat to create a date. This would work with your original DateTime string then:

$date = DateTime::createFromFormat('d M, Y', '01 Dec, 1950');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d');

See http://codepad.viper-7.com/08kK5M