[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #53897: PHP 8.1: strftime() is deprecated

[WordPress Trac]

#53897: PHP 8.1: strftime() is deprecated
------------------------------+-----------------------------------
 Reporter:  jrf               |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)      |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal            |  Milestone:  5.9
Component:  Build/Test Tools  |    Version:
 Severity:  normal            |   Keywords:  has-patch early php81
  Focuses:                    |
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 > The `strftime()` and `gmstrftime()` functions exhibit similar issues as
 `strptime()`, in that the formats they support, as well as their behavior,
 is platform-dependent. Unlike `strptime()`, these functions are available
 on Windows, though with a different feature set than on Linux. Musl-based
 distributions like Alpine do not support timezone-related format
 specifiers correctly. These functions are also locale-based, and as such
 may exhibit thread-safety issues.
 >
 > `date()` or `DateTime::format()` provide portable alternatives, and
 `IntlDateFormatter::format()` provides a more sophisticated, localization-
 aware alternative.

 Ref: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecations_php_8_1#strftime_and_gmstrftime

 > The `strftime()` and `gmstrftime()` functions have been deprecated in
 favor of
 > `date()/DateTime::format()` (for locale-independent formatting) or
 > `IntlDateFormatter::format()` (for locale-dependent formatting).

 Ref: https://github.com/php/php-
 src/blob/1cf4fb739f7a4fa8404a4c0958f13d04eae519d4/UPGRADING#L379-L381


 Aside from one instance in SimplePie, the `strftime()` function is only
 used within the test suite of WordPress to create formatted timestamps.

 As the function is used in test code, this leads to test output like this
 on PHP 8.1:
 {{{
 ...........................................................   767 / 12462
 (  6%)
 ............
 Deprecated: Function strftime() is deprecated in
 path/to/tests/phpunit/tests/canonical/postStatus.php on line 37
 ...............................................   826 / 12462 (  6%)
 }}}

 It also is the cause of 17 tests erroring out on PHP 8.1.

 These calls can all be safely converted to use a pattern along the lines
 of:
 {{{#!php
 <?php
 date_format( date_create( 'time phrase or timestamp' ), $format )
 }}}


 Verification of the principle:
 https://3v4l.org/MCURg

 Other references:
 * https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.strftime.php (for the old format
 string characters)
 * https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.format.php (for the new format
 string characters)
 * https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.construct.php (see Example 2 for
 a Unix timestamp code sample)

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/53897>
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