Question

I’m trying to manipulate the output of WordPress’ the_date() function.

My code:

<?php
define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('/gnews/wp-blog-header.php');
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); 

$potatoes = the_date();
$themonth = substr($potatoes,3);
echo($themonth);

endwhile; else: 
endif;  
?>

Pardon the strange variable names, at wit’s end here.

No matter what I try, the above will only output June 17th 2011.

The end result I’d like is to set it up so that I have a three character month name in one variable, a two-digit date number in another variable, and the year in a third. The date has to be the date of the WordPress post however.

How would I do that?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you wish these to be in 3 variables, pass the output of the_date() into strtotime() and date('Y-M-d) and then explode() it into separate variables. strtotime() is perfectly capable of parsing a date like June 17th 2011.

// Get it in YYYY-Mon-dd
$date = date('Y-M-d', strtotime(the_date());
list($year, $month, $day) = explode("-", $date);

Update

WordPress’ the_date()‘s fourth parameter is a boolean which specifies whether to return or echo it. It isn’t necessary to use strtotime() if done this way:

// Call the_date() with its format and FALSE to echo
$date = the_date('Y-M-d', '', '', FALSE);
list($year, $month, $day) = explode("-", $date);