ZenCart. How to change dates format

This tutorial will show you how to change the default date US format (month/day/year) to European (day/month/year) in ZenCart.

We’ll edit two Zen Cart language files to make this change.

1. Go to ZenCart installation root and open includes/languages/your-language.php file (if this file doesn’t exist, create it by copying the file admin/includes/languages/your-language.php to this location) and find this section:

   @setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_US');
   define('DATE_FORMAT_SHORT', '%m/%d/%Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT_LONG', '%A %d %B, %Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT', 'm/d/Y'); // this is used for date()
   define('DATE_TIME_FORMAT', DATE_FORMAT_SHORT . ' %H:%M:%S');

   replace it with the following:

   @setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_GB');
   define('DATE_FORMAT_SHORT', '%d/%m/%Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT_LONG', '%A %d %B, %Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT', 'd/m/Y'); // this is used for date()
   define('DATE_TIME_FORMAT', DATE_FORMAT_SHORT . ' %H:%M:%S');

2. in the same file find this section:

   // Return date in raw format
   // $date should be in format mm/dd/yyyy
   // raw date is in format YYYYMMDD, or DDMMYYYY
   if (!function_exists('zen_date_raw')) {
     function zen_date_raw($date, $reverse = false) {
       if ($reverse) {
         return substr($date, 3, 2) . substr($date, 0, 2) . substr($date, 6, 4);
       } else {
        return substr($date, 6, 4) . substr($date, 0, 2) . substr($date, 3, 2);
       }
     }
   }

   and replace with the following:

    // Return date in raw format
   // $date should be in format dd/mm/yyyy
   // raw date is in format YYYYMMDD, or DDMMYYYY
   if (!function_exists('zen_date_raw')) {
     function zen_date_raw($date, $reverse = false) {
       if ($reverse) {
         return substr($date, 0, 2) . substr($date, 3, 2) . substr($date, 6, 4);
       } else {
         return substr($date, 6, 4) . substr($date, 3, 2) . substr($date, 0, 2);
       }
     }
   }

3. In the same file find this section:

   // text for date of birth example
   define('DOB_FORMAT_STRING', 'mm/dd/yyyy');

   and replace with the following:

   // text for date of birth example
   define('DOB_FORMAT_STRING', 'dd/mm/yyyy');

4. In the same file find this section:

   define('ENTRY_DATE_OF_BIRTH_ERROR', 'Is your birth date correct? Our system requires the date in this format: MM/DD/YYYY (eg 05/21/1970)');
   define('ENTRY_DATE_OF_BIRTH_TEXT', '* (eg. 05/21/1970)');

   and replace with the following:

   define('ENTRY_DATE_OF_BIRTH_ERROR', 'Is your birth date correct? Our system requires the date in this format: DD/MM/YYYY (eg 21/05/1970)');
   define('ENTRY_DATE_OF_BIRTH_TEXT', '* (eg. 21/05/1970)');

5. Open admin/includes/languages/your-language.php file.

6. Find this section:

   setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_US');
   define('DATE_FORMAT_SHORT', '%m/%d/%Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT_LONG', '%A %d %B, %Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT', 'm/d/Y'); // this is used for date()
   define('PHP_DATE_TIME_FORMAT', 'm/d/Y H:i:s'); // this is used for date()
   define('DATE_TIME_FORMAT', DATE_FORMAT_SHORT . ' %H:%M:%S');
   define('DATE_FORMAT_SPIFFYCAL', 'MM/dd/yyyy'); //Use only 'dd', 'MM' and 'yyyy' here in any order

   and replace with the following:

   setlocale(LC_TIME, 'en_GB');
   define('DATE_FORMAT_SHORT', '%d/%m/%Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT_LONG', '%A %d %B, %Y'); // this is used for strftime()
   define('DATE_FORMAT', 'd/m/Y'); // this is used for date()
   define('PHP_DATE_TIME_FORMAT', 'd/m/Y H:i:s'); // this is used for date()
   define('DATE_TIME_FORMAT', DATE_FORMAT_SHORT . ' %H:%M:%S');
   define('DATE_FORMAT_SPIFFYCAL', 'dd/MM/yyyy'); //Use only 'dd', 'MM' and 'yyyy' here in any order

7. In the same file find this section:

   // Return date in raw format
   // $date should be in format mm/dd/yyyy
   // raw date is in format YYYYMMDD, or DDMMYYYY
   function zen_date_raw($date, $reverse = false) {
     if ($reverse) {
       return substr($date, 3, 2) . substr($date, 0, 2) . substr($date, 6, 4);
     } else {
       return substr($date, 6, 4) . substr($date, 0, 2) . substr($date, 3, 2);
     }
   }

   and replace with the following:

   // Return date in raw format
   // $date should be in format dd/mm/yyyy
   // raw date is in format YYYYMMDD, or DDMMYYYY
   function zen_date_raw($date, $reverse = false) {
     if ($reverse) {
       return substr($date, 0, 2) . substr($date, 3, 2) . substr($date, 6, 4);
     } else {
       return substr($date, 6, 4) . substr($date, 3, 2) . substr($date, 0, 2);
     }
   }

8. In the same file find this section:

   // text for date of birth example
   define('DOB_FORMAT_STRING', 'mm/dd/yyyy');

   and replace with the following:

   // text for date of birth example
   define('DOB_FORMAT_STRING', 'dd/mm/yyyy');

9. In the same file find this section:

   define('JS_DOB', '* The \'Date of Birth\' entry must be in the format: xx/xx/xxxx (month/date/year).\n');

   and replace with the following:

   define('JS_DOB', '* The \'Date of Birth\' entry must be in the format: xx/xx/xxxx (date/month/year).\n');

10. In the same file find this section:

    define('ENTRY_DATE_OF_BIRTH_ERROR', '&nbsp;<span class="errorText">(eg. 05/21/1970)</span>');

    and replace with the following:

    define('ENTRY_DATE_OF_BIRTH_ERROR', '&nbsp;<span class="errorText">(eg. 21/05/1970)</span>');

    Done! That’s all! Now all dates on your site will be displayed in European format.

    

Feel free to check the detailed video tutorial below: