DateTime API only outputs DAY in the future? PHP -

if send day , time (not date) datetime api :

$tz = new \datetimezone("utc"); $now = new \datetime("now", $tz); $then = \datetime::createfromformat('l g a', 'thursday 8 pm', $tz); 

and saturday 26th march, $then, when echoed follows :

echo $then->format('l js, f'); 

will return :

thursday 31st, march 

how make return date of thursday in current week has passed :

thursday 24th march 

not next thursday?

datetime::__construct() , strtotime() uses a lot of rules guess mean when specify incomplete or relative date. of times thy guess right of rules similar , final result not 1 expected programmer.

datetime::createfromformat() limited, cannot understand formats list.

you try parse relative date format. when day name specified, interpreted next occurrence of specified day of week (see dayname entry under day-based notations table in documentation.)

you can date want using thursday week instead. datetime::createfromformat() doesn't understand relative dates contain references week datetime::__construct() does.

try this:

$then = new \datetime('thursday week 8 pm', $tz);