Month Day year Selection drop down list to generate date format in PHP

In different forms we will be asking visitors to enter the date in an input field in a particular format. The better way is to ask the visitors to select month, date and year from a drop down list box. So the visitor can easily make the choice of date month and year. The drop down list box will contain only the valid items so there is no need to check the inputs again. We will try to create two drop down box for month and date and one text box for entering year. You can change the year text entry box to drop down list box with your options of years.

Date Validation

Note that we are not validating any inputs here and you can add them if required. You can check different validations using PHP here.

We will use one form and inside that we will add all three form components to accept month date and year from the visitors. Using the three values entered by users we can create a date format which we can use in and SQL query to insert to any database or store. The format yyyy-mm-dd is used to store in a date field of mysql table.

Please note that here the form is submitted to the same page and the variables are available for our use. If in your server settings global variables are set for OFF then you have to collect the form submitted values as $month= $_POST['month'] or in different ways based on the version of PHP you are running. Here is the demo of the drop down list box for date format.

The code for the above list boxes and the form is here.

<?Php
$todo=$_POST['todo'];
if(isset($todo) and $todo=="submit"){
$month=$_POST['month'];
$dt=$_POST['dt'];
$year=$_POST['year'];
$date_value="$month/$dt/$year";
echo "mm/dd/yyyy format :$date_value<br>";
$date_value="$year-$month-$dt";
echo "YYYY-mm-dd format :$date_value<br>";
}

?>
<form method=post name=f1 action=''><input type=hidden name=todo value=submit>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" >
<tr><td  align=left  >   
<select name=month value=''>Select Month</option>
<option value='01'>January</option>
<option value='02'>February</option>
<option value='03'>March</option>
<option value='04'>April</option>
<option value='05'>May</option>
<option value='06'>June</option>
<option value='07'>July</option>
<option value='08'>August</option>
<option value='09'>September</option>
<option value='10'>October</option>
<option value='11'>November</option>
<option value='12'>December</option>
</select>

</td><td  align=left  >   
Date<select name=dt >
<option value='01'>01</option>
<option value='02'>02</option>
<option value='03'>03</option>
<option value='04'>04</option>
<option value='05'>05</option>
<option value='06'>06</option>
<option value='07'>07</option>
<option value='08'>08</option>
<option value='09'>09</option>
<option value='10'>10</option>
<option value='11'>11</option>
<option value='12'>12</option>
<option value='13'>13</option>
<option value='14'>14</option>
<option value='15'>15</option>
<option value='16'>16</option>
<option value='17'>17</option>
<option value='18'>18</option>
<option value='19'>19</option>
<option value='20'>20</option>
<option value='21'>21</option>
<option value='22'>22</option>
<option value='23'>23</option>
<option value='24'>24</option>
<option value='25'>25</option>
<option value='26'>26</option>
<option value='27'>27</option>
<option value='28'>28</option>
<option value='29'>29</option>
<option value='30'>30</option>
<option value='31'>31</option>
</select>

</td><td  align=left  >   
Year(yyyy)<input type=text name=year size=4 value=2005>
<input type=submit value=Submit>
</table>
</form>

Listing all previous Months starting from current month using strtotime()

Strtotime returns unix timestamp by taking text string of date & time inputs

Here is the code

for($i=0;$i<=11;$i++){
$month=date('M',strtotime("first day of -$i month"));
echo $month ."<br>";
}

Output is here


Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
Dec
Nov
Oct

Creating a dropdown list using above code


echo "<select name=month>";
for($i=0;$i<=11;$i++){
$month=date('F',strtotime("first day of -$i month"));
echo "<option value=$month>$month</option> ";
}
echo "</select>";

Output is here

Listing next 5 years starting from present year

echo "<select name=year>";
for($i=0;$i<=5;$i++){
$year=date('Y',strtotime("last day of +$i year"));
echo "<option name='$year'>$year</option>";
}
echo "</select>";

Output is here

Using JQuery Calendar Widget

By adding JQuery we can develop calendar easily and allow users to select data from it. We can enable or disable range of data and provide interlocking between different calendars. JQuery code is easy to maintain and implement.

Calendar using JQuery

Using Date picker in PHP

Instead of showing dropdown listbox and text box to enter date we can ask the user to select date from a window where a monthly calendar is shown.

Displaying calendar for selection of date by user

We can display calendar with browse button to navigate to different month and years.

Questions

How do you create a dropdown list for selecting a specific month in PHP?
What is the process of generating a dropdown list for selecting a year in PHP?
Can you create a dropdown list for selecting a day within a specific month and year in PHP?
How do you ensure that the selected day in the dropdown list is appropriate for the selected month and year?
What is the best way to handle leap years and their impact on the day selection dropdown list in PHP?
Can you pre-select a default value in the dropdown lists for month, year, and day?
How do you retrieve the selected values from the dropdown lists and convert them into a date format in PHP?
Are there any PHP functions or libraries available that simplify the creation of date selection dropdown lists?
How do you handle validation and error checking for the selected values in the dropdown lists to ensure a valid date is generated?
What are some best practices for designing a user-friendly and intuitive date selection interface using dropdown lists in PHP?

PHP Date Functions Displaying calendar for selection of date by user

Subhendu Mohapatra

Author & Instructor at plus2net

I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.

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vijayshankar	07-08-2012
This was the best post thank a lot dude

muzika	05-10-2013
not good. there shouldn't be february 30 and 31 and 29 should only appear when it is leap year.

smo	06-10-2013
Date validation is added in next section. Here it is demonstrated how to collect the date inputs.

kossi	14-02-2014
great! But can you help me on how to do the validation for the month february

ban	16-07-2014
simple , but have to take care about months having days less than 31.

navneet	07-11-2014
i want only store day and month in database. please put regarding example...

smo1234	11-02-2019
Just remove the options . You can use the for loop with maximum limit of date you want.

Yaz	10-02-2019
How to demonstrate the day less than 31?

	20-02-2020
how do I send values to another php page

PHP Month year day selection drop down list to generate date format

Date Validation

Listing all previous Months starting from current month using strtotime()

Using JQuery Calendar Widget

Using Date picker in PHP

Questions

Subhendu Mohapatra