Carbon dates

Now

Carbon is the date library Laravel uses for every timestamp. The now method returns the current moment, and toDateTimeString prints it in database friendly form with no extra setup.

use Carbon\Carbon; echo Carbon::now()->toDateTimeString();

Parse input

User input arrives as plain text, so parse turns it into a real date object. It understands common formats out of the box and complains loudly about text that holds no date.

use Carbon\Carbon; $party = Carbon::parse("2026-12-31 20:00"); echo $party->toDateTimeString();

Add and diff

Dates support simple math through add and sub methods for days, months, and years. The diff family measures the gap between two moments in the unit you ask for, which fits countdowns and deadlines.

use Carbon\Carbon; $deadline = Carbon::now()->addDays(7); echo $deadline->toDateTimeString(); echo Carbon::now()->diffInDays($deadline);

Format output

The format method prints any part of a date with classic date codes. Pick a short code set for pages and keep the full timestamp for logs and exports.

use Carbon\Carbon; echo Carbon::now()->format("Y-m-d"); echo Carbon::parse("2026-10-06")->format("d.m.Y");

Next: Pagination

Article author: Arthur Isaev