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How to Debug Date Parsing Failures in PHP Using the date_get_last_errors() Function

gitbox 2025-09-08 
<span><span><span class="hljs-meta">&lt;?php</span></span><span>
</span><span><span class="hljs-comment">// This part is not related to the article content</span></span><span>
</span><span><span class="hljs-keyword">echo</span></span><span> </span><span><span class="hljs-string">"Welcome to the PHP Debugging Guide!\n"</span></span><span>;
</span><span><span class="hljs-keyword">echo</span></span><span> </span><span><span class="hljs-string">"Today we’ll dive into debugging date parsing errors.\n"</span></span><span>;
</span><span><span class="hljs-meta">?&gt;</span></span><span>
<p><hr></p>
<p>In PHP, working with dates and times is a very common task. However, when using <code></span><span><span class="hljs-title class_">DateTime</span></span><span>::</span><span><span class="hljs-title function_ invoke__">createFromFormat</span></span><span>()

Running the code above, you might see the following output:

<span><span>Parsing failed!
</span><span><span class="hljs-section">Error count: 2</span></span><span>
</span><span><span class="hljs-section">Warning count: 0</span></span><span>
</span><span><span class="hljs-section">Error details:</span></span><span>
  - The parsed date was invalid
  - The parsed date was invalid
</span></span>

With this detailed information, you can quickly pinpoint the issue, such as the month or day being out of valid range.

3. Notes

  1. date_get_last_errors() returns the error information from the last date parsing attempt, so it should be called immediately after a parsing failure.

  2. It works not only with DateTime::createFromFormat(), but also with date_parse() and date_parse_from_format().

  3. If parsing succeeds, the error_count and warning_count values will both be 0, and the errors and warnings arrays will be empty.

4. Conclusion

When date parsing fails, date_get_last_errors() is a very practical debugging tool. It provides detailed information about errors and warnings, helping developers quickly identify issues with date formats or input data, improving debugging efficiency.

By making good use of date_get_last_errors(), you can handle various complex date formats and potential input errors more confidently during development.

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