DevEquiv

    PHP date() to Java DateTimeFormatter Converter

    Paste a PHP date() format string to get the equivalent java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter pattern.

    Token-by-token mapping

    Shown one token at a time — some dialects combine two adjacent tokens (like a day number plus an ordinal suffix) into a single result above, which can differ slightly from this per-token view.

    Close equivalent

    PHP date()
    Y-m-d H:i:s
    Java DateTimeFormatter
    yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

    Main limitation: PHP's one-character-per-meaning tokens expand into Java's letter-repetition patterns — e.g. PHP's `Y` (4-digit year) becomes Java's `yyyy`, and `F` (full month name) becomes `MMMM`.

    How it differs

    • PHP's one-character-per-meaning tokens expand into Java's letter-repetition patterns — e.g. PHP's Y (4-digit year) becomes Java's yyyy, and F (full month name) becomes MMMM.
    • PHP's u (microseconds, 6 digits) maps to Java's SSSSSS; PHP's v (milliseconds, 3 digits) maps to Java's SSS — both precisions are supported in this direction, unlike the strftime pairing.
    • PHP's S (ordinal suffix) has no DateTimeFormatter equivalent; Java's pattern language has no built-in ordinal-suffix token at all.

    Examples

    Standard timestamp

    PHP date() Y-m-d H:i:s
    Java DateTimeFormatter yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

    PHP's single-character tokens expand into Java's letter-repetition equivalents.

    RFC-822-style log line

    PHP date() D, d M Y H:i:s
    Java DateTimeFormatter EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss

    Short weekday/month names and zero-padded fields both convert exactly.

    Edge cases

    Edge case

    A literal T in a PHP format (e.g. for an ISO-8601-style string) is escaped as \T in PHP but appears as 'T' (single-quoted) in the Java pattern — different escaping mechanisms, same intent.

    Edge case

    PHP's N (ISO-8601 numeric weekday, 1=Monday) has no direct DateTimeFormatter pattern letter mapped here, since Java's closest letter (e) is locale-dependent rather than guaranteed ISO — it is intentionally left unsupported rather than risk a wrong day number.

    References

    • PHP Manual — date() — checked 2026-07-29
    • Java SE docs — DateTimeFormatter (v21) — checked 2026-07-29

    Last verified 2026-07-29.