PHP date() in foreign languages - e.g. Mar 25 Aoû 09

Question

I have a script that needs to display date data to an international audience - e.g.

"submitted Tue 25 Aug 09"

Is there an easier/cleaner way to get this converted to the French(etc) equivalent "Mar 25 Aoû 09" than:

Setting a constant LANG and a $LANGUAGES array of include files & :

if(LANG != 'EN')
{
include $LANGUAGES['LANG'];
}

& then the included file maps the days & months & replaces for the appropriate locale?

Thanks

David

Answer 1

I think you can't get away from doing so without setting LOCALE:

<?php
setlocale(LC_ALL, 'fr_FR');

echo strftime("%A %e %B %Y");
?>

Some details on strftime: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.strftime.php

Answer 2

According to the date function's manual page, you should use setlocale. Methods such as strftime will then use the locale specified. date, however, will not for some reason.

Answer 3

You might also want to have a look at Zend_Date.