Handling Dates with Carbon Date Helpers

Carbon Helper simplifies working with dates, making it easier to perform common tasks like formatting, comparing, and manipulating dates.

Example 1: Getting the Current Date and Time

You can easily get the current date and time using Carbon.

use Carbon\Carbon;

$currentDateTime = Carbon::now();
echo $currentDateTime; // e.g., 2024-10-27 15:30:00

Example 2: Formatting Dates

Format a date in a more human-readable way.

$formattedDate = Carbon::now()->format('l, F j, Y');
echo $formattedDate; // e.g., Saturday, October 27, 2024

Example 3: Adding or Subtracting Time

You can manipulate dates by adding or subtracting time easily.

$nextWeek = Carbon::now()->addWeek();
echo $nextWeek; // e.g., 2024-11-03 15:30:00

$lastMonth = Carbon::now()->subMonth();
echo $lastMonth; // e.g., 2024-09-27 15:30:00

Example 4: Check if a Date is in a Given Week

Check if a specific date falls within the current week.

$date = Carbon::createFromDate(2024, 10, 25);

if ($date->isCurrentWeek()) {
    echo "$date is in the current week.";
} else {
    echo "$date is not in the current week.";
}

Example 5: Get the Next Business Day

Carbon can help you find the next business day, skipping weekends.

$date = Carbon::createFromDate(2024, 10, 25); // Thursday

$nextBusinessDay = $date->nextWeekday();
echo $nextBusinessDay; // Outputs 2024-10-28 (Monday)

Example 6: Calculate Age from Birthdate

Calculate someone's age based on their birthdate.

$birthDate = Carbon::createFromDate(1990, 10, 27);
$age = $birthDate->age; // Automatically calculates age

echo "You are $age years old."; // Outputs age based on current date

Example 7: Format Date in a Locale

Format dates in different languages using locale settings.

$date = Carbon::now();
echo $date->locale('fr')->translatedFormat('l, j F Y'); // e.g., samedi, 27 octobre 2024 (in French)

Example 8: Getting Differences Between Dates

Find out the difference between two dates.

$start = Carbon::createFromDate(2024, 1, 1);
$end = Carbon::createFromDate(2024, 12, 31);

$diffInDays = $start->diffInDays($end);
echo "There are $diffInDays days between $start and $end."; // 365

Example 9: Comparing Dates

Carbon makes it easy to compare two dates.

$date1 = Carbon::createFromDate(2024, 1, 1);
$date2 = Carbon::createFromDate(2024, 12, 31);

if ($date1->isToday()) {
    echo "Today is January 1, 2024!";
} elseif ($date1->isFuture()) {
    echo "$date1 is in the future.";
} elseif ($date1->isPast()) {
    echo "$date1 is in the past.";
}

Example 10: Adding or Subtracting Time