changing how a date appears

[hwalker1]

I have a variable that already has a date stored in it as 2000-01-01 00:00:00
I just want it to display as 01-01-2000, with no time, which is the European way of doing things.

The PHP manual only seems to have references to using the DATE() function, and others talk about using MySQL's DATE_FORMAT function.

As far as I can see, the date() function applies only to the current or system date.

My variable it is not part of a database so SQL should not come into it.
However, nowhere can I find an example to do what I want.

It is possible to do it by changing it into a string and manipulate the bits, but there must be a simpler way.

Can anyone throw me a life line with a suitable bit of code?

Howard

[leatherback]

if you use strtotime (string to time) you get a timestamp from your string, and hat you can use in the date() function to format the time as you like.

[bradgrafelman]

The simplest way would be to do as recommended; if it's coming from MySQL, then let MySQL do the work for you using its DATE_FORMAT() function. There's really no reason to retrieve it as-is and use multiple PHP functions to manipulate it.

[hwalker1]

Thanks for your help. It was not coming from SQL.
I found the anwer by browsing the snippets page. Item 942 does a conversion from a time in what I call US format to UK format, and works a treat.
I will look in the snippets section first - there is a great amount of detailed code there.

Howard