Error when parsing string into DateTime

Question

I've used DateTime::createFromFormat() to parse string into date before, but today I found a problem and I get null from this call.

echo $date_string;
$test = DateTime::createFromFormat('M d Y, H:i:s T', trim($date_string));
echo $test->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

Output:

Oct 16 2013, 15:45:02 CEST

( ! ) Fatal error: Call to a member function format() on a non-object in (...) on line 51

Where line 51 is the last line where I call format().

So, am I missing something? Thanks in advance!

The output of DateTime::getLastErrors() as requested:

(
    [warning_count] => 0
    [warnings] => Array
        (
        )

    [error_count] => 4
    [errors] => Array
        (
            [3] => Unexpected data found.
            [11] => Unexpected data found.
            [22] => Unexpected data found.
            [36] => The timezone could not be found in the database
        )

)

The catch, requested by @whizzzkid:

DateTime::__construct(): Failed to parse time string (Oct&nbsp;16&nbsp;2013,&nbsp;10:00:00&nbsp;CEST) at position 3 (&): Unexpected character

Can't see anything wrong with this - you must of passed it a string that it wasn't expecting so $test has become false on failure. — Emissary
– Emissary, Commented Oct 12, 2013 at 20:04
Maybe your system's timezone table isn't complete, so it doesn't recognize the zone CEST. — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Oct 12, 2013 at 20:08

Leo Nyx · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-12 20:34:08Z

3

Your string contains UTF non-breaking spaces instead of normal ones. Date parser is unaware of them and does not treat them as whitespace. Replace non-breaking spaces with normal ones with something like:

$date_string = preg_replace('~\x{00a0}~u', ' ', $date_string);

answered Oct 12, 2013 at 20:34

Leo Nyx

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2 Comments

Doon Over a year ago

Well, that is indeed the problem. Thanks!

ElefantPhace Over a year ago

Very helpful! When scraping sites look at the source when something doesn't work as expected. Ran across something very similar and this is a much easier and cleaner approach than I originally came up with.

whizzzkid · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-12 20:25:26Z

2

can you please try this:

<?php
//some $date_string exists
try {
    $test = new DateTime(trim(html_entity_decode($date_string)));
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    exit(1);
}

echo $test->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
?>

Try this one!... should work

edited Oct 12, 2013 at 20:25

answered Oct 12, 2013 at 20:11

whizzzkid

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1 Comment

Doon Over a year ago

Yes sir. Output:

DateTime::__construct(): Failed to parse time string (Oct&nbsp;16&nbsp;2013,&nbsp;10:00:00&nbsp;CEST) at position 3 (&): Unexpected character

Zafar · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-30 10:43:29Z

I recently had the same problem in my CI project. I solved it with this method, it works:

Instead of this:

$test = new DateTime($date_string);

or

$date_string = preg_replace('~\x{00a0}~u', ' ', $date_string);

as suggested by @Leo Nyx,

I solved it with this:

$date = new DateTime(strtotime($date_string));

and then below it, format the time as you please:

$date->format('d/m/Y');

Off course I already tried solutions posted here. The pre_replace method works, but I think the method I posted here saves you some CPU for good.

The main reason to do this is: somehow your date string contains some characters which DateTime method don't know! strtotime() method correctly converts your string to the date format.

David Urry · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-27 05:42:45Z

0

I found an alternate cause to this problem:

I had my date formated with 24 hour time ("H") and am/pm ("a") which confused the parser. So I changed my date format from this: "Y-m-d H:ia T" to "Y-m-d h:ia T" (note the "h") and it all worked correctly.

answered Oct 27, 2014 at 5:42

David Urry

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