Using Carbon PHP Extension for Simplified Date and Time Manipulation

In everyday PHP development, handling dates and times can be cumbersome due to complex native functions. The Carbon extension provides a more readable and semantic way to work with date and time.

1. Install the Extension

composer require nesbot/carbon

2. Use Carbon in Your Code

use Carbon\Carbon;

3. Retrieve Dates and Times

// Get current time
$current = Carbon::now();
echo "Current time: " . $current . PHP_EOL;

// Get today (midnight)
$today = Carbon::today();
echo "Today: " . $today . PHP_EOL;

// Get yesterday
$yesterday = Carbon::yesterday();
echo "Yesterday: " . $yesterday . PHP_EOL;

// Get tomorrow
$tomorrow = Carbon::tomorrow();
echo "Tomorrow: " . $tomorrow . PHP_EOL;

4. Parse Specific Strings

$newYear = new Carbon('first day of January 2023');
echo "Parsed date: " . $newYear . PHP_EOL;

5. Set a Specific Timezone

$newYearPST = new Carbon('first day of January 2023', 'Asia/Shanghai');
echo "Timezone date: " . $newYearPST . PHP_EOL;

6. Manipulate Dates

// Add 30 days
$trialExpires = Carbon::now()->addDays(30);
echo "Add 30 days: " . $trialExpires . PHP_EOL;

// Create a custom date
$dt = Carbon::create(2023, 1, 12, 12, 0, 0);

// Add years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds
$dt = $dt->addYears(5);
$dt = $dt->addMonths(60);
$dt = $dt->addWeeks(3);
$dt = $dt->addDays(29);
$dt = $dt->addHours(24);
$dt = $dt->addMinutes(50);
$dt = $dt->addSeconds(50);

echo "Modified date: " . $dt . PHP_EOL;

// Subtract the same intervals
$dt = $dt->subYears(5);
$dt = $dt->subMonths(60);
$dt = $dt->subWeeks(3);
$dt = $dt->subDays(29);
$dt = $dt->subHours(24);
$dt = $dt->subMinutes(50);
$dt = $dt->subSeconds(50);

echo "Reverted date: " . $dt . PHP_EOL;

7. Work with Weekdays (Skipping Weekends)

// Add 2 weekdays
$dt = $dt->addWeekdays(2);
// Add a single weekday
$dt = $dt->addWeekday();
// Subtract a weekday
$dt = $dt->subWeekday();
// Add 4 weekdays
$dt = $dt->addWeekdays(4);
// Subtract 4 weekdays
$dt = $dt->subWeekdays(4);

8. Formatting Dates

$dt = Carbon::now();

// Date only
echo $dt->toDateString(); // e.g., 2023-01-12

// English formatted date
echo $dt->toFormattedDateString(); // e.g., Jan 12, 2023

// Time only
echo $dt->toTimeString(); // e.g., 13:05:21

// Full date and time
echo $dt->toDateTimeString(); // e.g., 2023-01-12 13:03:49

// English day, date and time
echo $dt->toDayDateTimeString(); // e.g., Thu, Jan 12, 2023 1:03 PM

For many more operations, refer to the official Carbon documentation at https://carbon.nesbot.com .