FieldtypeDatetime

Empty string '' when blank. When populated, value depends on whether the Page output formatting is ON or OFF:

• int (Unix timestamp) when output formatting is OFF and non-empty value is present.

• string (formatted date/time string) when output formatting is ON and non-empty value is present.

// Get (output formatting OFF — raw timestamp):
$page->of(false);
$page->date_field   // int (Unix timestamp) or '' when blank

// Get (output formatting ON — formatted string):
$page->of(true);
$page->date_field   // string, e.g. "8 April 2026" per dateOutputFormat setting

// Set — accepts Unix timestamp, PHP \DateTime, or strtotime-compatible string:
$page->date_field = time();
$page->date_field = strtotime('2026-04-08');
$page->date_field = '2026-04-08 14:30:00';  // strtotime-compatible string
$page->date_field = new \DateTime('2026-04-08');
$page->date_field = '';  // clear the value
$page->save('date_field');

Comparison operators accept a Unix timestamp, a strtotime()-compatible date string, or a MySQL Y-m-d H:i:s string:

// Exact date match
$pages->find('date_field=2026-04-08');

// No value
$pages->find('date_field=""');

// Comparison
$pages->find('date_field>2026-01-01');
$pages->find('date_field<' . time());   // before now
$pages->find('date_field>=2026-01-01, date_field<=2026-12-31'); // within a year

// Not empty (has any date)
$pages->find('date_field!=""');

// Partial date string match
$pages->find('date_field^=2026');        // starts with 2026 (any date in 2026)
$pages->find('date_field^=2026-04');     // starts with 2026-04 (April 2026)
$pages->find('date_field%=2026-04-08'); // contains this date string

Note on partial matching (^=, %=): These match against the stored Y-m-d H:i:s MySQL string, not the formatted output value. Use ^=YYYY or ^=YYYY-MM for year/month-based ranges.

// output formatting ON (default in front-end):
echo $page->date_field;  // formatted string, e.g. "8 April 2026 2:30 pm"

// output formatting OFF:
echo date('Y-m-d', $page->date_field);  // manual formatting from timestamp

// Using WireDateTime for formatting:
echo $datetime->formatDate($page->date_field, 'j F Y');

• The value is stored as a MySQL datetime column (Y-m-d H:i:s) and loaded as a Unix timestamp.
• Output format is controlled by the dateOutputFormat field setting (PHP date() format string).
• Per-language output formats are supported when LanguageSupport is installed.
• The default output format is Y-m-d (configurable per field instance).
• dateOutputFormat can combine date and time: e.g. 'j F Y g:i a'.
• Compatible fieldtypes: FieldtypeDatetime only (and language variants).
• Database column: datetime NOT NULL, indexed.