Question

In my mySQL database I have a field called FlowerOpen that is in the DATE format (YYYY-MM-DD) in my php script, I want to convert it so the user sees Monday, May 28, 2012

I keep finding explanations on how to convert DATETIME to DATE but not DATE to DATETIME

I tried converting the date with the following command:

$Date = DATE_FORMAT($ResultsLists['FlowerOpen'],'%W, %M %e, %Y');

I keep getting the following error:

Warning: date_format() expects parameter 1 to be DateTime, string given in
C:\xampp\htdocs\Orchid\viewPlantInfo.php on line 383

So I tried converting the FlowerOpen to DATETIME and then format it using:

$Date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", strtotime($ResultsLists['FlowerOpen']));
$Date = DATE_FORMAT($Date,'%W, %M %e, %Y');

but I got the same error message.

I also tried

$Date = SELECT CAST($ResultsLists['FlowerOpen'] AS DATETIME);
$Date = DATE_FORMAT($Date,'%W, %M %e, %Y');

but I got the error

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in 
C:\xampp\htdocs\Orchid\viewPlantInfo.php on line 382 (the CAST line)

Answer 1

You can convert it via php using strtotime like this:

echo date('l, M d, Y', strtotime($yourDate));

Working Example

echo date('l, M d, Y', strtotime('2012-05-29')); // Tuesday, May 29, 2012