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<refentry xml:id="dateinterval.format" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>DateInterval::format</refname>
  <refpurpose>Formats the interval</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis role="DateInterval">
   <modifier>public</modifier> <type>string</type><methodname>DateInterval::format</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>format</parameter></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   Formats the interval.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="parameters">
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>format</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <table>
        <title>
         The following characters are recognized in the
         <parameter>format</parameter> parameter string.
         Each format character must be prefixed by a percent sign
         (<literal>%</literal>).
        </title>
        <tgroup cols="3">
         <thead>
          <row>
           <entry><parameter>format</parameter> character</entry>
           <entry>Description</entry>
           <entry>Example values</entry>
          </row>
         </thead>
         <tbody>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>%</literal></entry>
           <entry>Literal <literal>%</literal></entry>
           <entry><literal>%</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>Y</literal></entry>
           <entry>Years, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0</entry>
           <entry><literal>01</literal>, <literal>03</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>y</literal></entry>
           <entry>Years, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>1</literal>, <literal>3</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>M</literal></entry>
           <entry>Months, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0</entry>
           <entry><literal>01</literal>, <literal>03</literal>, <literal>12</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>m</literal></entry>
           <entry>Months, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>1</literal>, <literal>3</literal>, <literal>12</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>D</literal></entry>
           <entry>Days, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0</entry>
           <entry><literal>01</literal>, <literal>03</literal>, <literal>31</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>d</literal></entry>
           <entry>Days, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>1</literal>, <literal>3</literal>, <literal>31</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>a</literal></entry>
           <entry>Total number of days as a result of a <methodname>DateTime::diff</methodname> or <literal>(unknown)</literal> otherwise</entry>
           <entry><literal>4</literal>, <literal>18</literal>, <literal>8123</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>H</literal></entry>
           <entry>Hours, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0</entry>
           <entry><literal>01</literal>, <literal>03</literal>, <literal>23</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>h</literal></entry>
           <entry>Hours, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>1</literal>, <literal>3</literal>, <literal>23</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>I</literal></entry>
           <entry>Minutes, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0</entry>
           <entry><literal>01</literal>, <literal>03</literal>, <literal>59</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>i</literal></entry>
           <entry>Minutes, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>1</literal>, <literal>3</literal>, <literal>59</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>S</literal></entry>
           <entry>Seconds, numeric, at least 2 digits with leading 0</entry>
           <entry><literal>01</literal>, <literal>03</literal>, <literal>57</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>s</literal></entry>
           <entry>Seconds, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>1</literal>, <literal>3</literal>, <literal>57</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>F</literal></entry>
           <entry>Microseconds, numeric, at least 6 digits with leading
           0</entry>
           <entry><literal>007701</literal>, <literal>052738</literal>, <literal>428291</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>f</literal></entry>
           <entry>Microseconds, numeric</entry>
           <entry><literal>7701</literal>, <literal>52738</literal>, <literal>428291</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>R</literal></entry>
           <entry>Sign "<literal>-</literal>" when negative, "<literal>+</literal>" when positive</entry>
           <entry><literal>-</literal>, <literal>+</literal></entry>
          </row>
          <row>
           <entry><literal>r</literal></entry>
           <entry>Sign "<literal>-</literal>" when negative, empty when positive</entry>
           <entry><literal>-</literal>, <literal/></entry>
          </row>
         </tbody>
        </tgroup>
       </table>
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   Returns the formatted interval.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="changelog">
  &reftitle.changelog;
  <para>
   <informaltable>
    <tgroup cols="2">
     <thead>
      <row>
       <entry>&Version;</entry>
       <entry>&Description;</entry>
      </row>
     </thead>
     <tbody>
      <row>
       <entry>7.2.12</entry>
       <entry>The <literal>F</literal> and <literal>f</literal> format
        will now always be positive.</entry>
      </row>
      <row>
       <entry>7.1.0</entry>
       <entry>The <literal>F</literal> and <literal>f</literal> format
        characters were added.</entry>
      </row>
     </tbody>
    </tgroup>
   </informaltable>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="examples">
  &reftitle.examples;
  <para>
   <example>
    <title><classname>DateInterval</classname> example</title>
    <programlisting role="php">
     <![CDATA[
<?php

$interval = new DateInterval('P2Y4DT6H8M');
echo $interval->format('%d days');

?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
    &example.outputs;
    <screen role="php">
     <![CDATA[
4 days
]]>
    </screen>
   </example>
  </para>
  <para>
   <example>
    <title><classname>DateInterval</classname> and carry over points</title>
    <programlisting role="php">
     <![CDATA[
<?php

$interval = new DateInterval('P32D');
echo $interval->format('%d days');

?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
    &example.outputs;
    <screen role="php">
     <![CDATA[
32 days
]]>
    </screen>
   </example>
  </para>
  <para>
   <example>
    <title>
     <classname>DateInterval</classname> and
     <methodname>DateTime::diff</methodname> with the %a and %d modifiers
    </title>
    <programlisting role="php">
     <![CDATA[
<?php

$january = new DateTime('2010-01-01');
$february = new DateTime('2010-02-01');
$interval = $february->diff($january);

// %a will output the total number of days.
echo $interval->format('%a total days')."\n";

// While %d will only output the number of days not already covered by the
// month.
echo $interval->format('%m month, %d days');

?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
    &example.outputs;
    <screen role="php">
     <![CDATA[
31 total days
1 month, 0 days
]]>
    </screen>
   </example>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 
 <refsect1 role="notes">
  &reftitle.notes;
  <note>
   <para>
    The <methodname>DateInterval::format</methodname> method does not 
    recalculate carry over points in time strings nor in date segments. This 
    is expected because it is not possible to overflow values like <literal>"32 days"</literal>
    which could be interpreted as anything from <literal>"1 month and 4 days"</literal> 
    to <literal>"1 month and 1 day"</literal>.
   </para>
  </note>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="seealso">
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <para>
   <simplelist>
    <member><methodname>DateTime::diff</methodname></member>
   </simplelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>
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