What is PHP checkdate() Function?
If you want to check whether a date is valid Gregorion date or not, use PHP checkdate() function.
Syntax:
checkdate(month, day, year)
Parameters:
The Function has 3 parameters which are all required-
month (Required): It specifies the month. It must be between 1 – 12 inclusive.
day (Required): It specifies the day. It must be between 1 – 31 inclusive. It must be a valid number of days based on the month and year (leap year).
year (Required): It specifies the year. It must be between 1 – 32767 inclusive.
The function returns-
Return Values:
The function returns-
- TRUE – if the provided date is a valid Gregorian date.
- FALSE – otherwise.
Examples:
Example:
<?php
echo "is 1/1/1 a valid Gregorian date? ";
echo checkdate(1, 1, 1) ? "Yes": "No";
echo "<br />";
echo "is 1/15/2026 a valid Gregorian date? ";
echo checkdate(1, 15, 2026) ? "Yes": "No";
echo "<br />";
echo "is 3/31/2029 a valid Gregorian date? ";
echo checkdate(9, 31, 2029) ? "Yes": "No";
?>
Output:
is 1/1/1 a valid Gregorian date? Yes
is 1/15/2026 a valid Gregorian date? Yes
is 3/31/2029 a valid Gregorian date? No
Notes on checkdate() Function:
- The function can correctly identify the leap year
<?php echo "is 2/29/2028 a valid leap year accordiong to Gregorian calendar? "; echo checkdate(2, 29, 2028) ? "Yes": "No"; echo "<br />"; echo "is 2/29/2030 a valid leap year accordiong to Gregorian calendar? "; echo checkdate(2, 29, 2030) ? "Yes": "No"; ?>
- Gregorian calendar is an internationally valid calendar that we follow in our daily life.
PHP Version Support:
PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8
Summary: PHP checkdate() Function
checkdate() is a PHP built-in date/time function. It is a quick method to find out validness of a date.