Getting string form of date value

[Claus Mygind]

I need the string form of a date minus 6 days. This is driving me crazy

$a_Date_String = '20140809';
 
//this works fine
$Week_Ending = date ("Y-m-d", strtotime($a_Date_String));
 
$Week_Begin = new DateTime($a_Date_String);
$Week_Begin->sub(new DateInterval('P6D'));
 
/*
I now have a string for $Week_Ending "2014-08-09", 
but the $Week_Begin is a date object
 
 How do I extract "2014-08-03" from the $Week_Begin? 
 
I want to use the string value in my query on the MySQL table like this. 
*/
$sql = 'select '.$cSelect.' from '.$cFrom.' where workDay between " '.$Week_Begin.'" and "'.$Week_Ending.'" ' order by '.$cOrderBy;
 

[Claus Mygind]

Ok after much testing and searching on the net, I finally found the not so intuitive solution

$a_Date_String = '20140809';
 
$Week_Ending = date ("Y-m-d", strtotime($a_Date_String));
 
$Week_Begin = new DateTime($a_Date_String);
$Week_Begin->sub(new DateInterval('P6D'));
 
//you would think they would have a timetostr function instead of 'format'
 $Week_Begin = $Week_Begin->format('Y-m-d'); 
 
 

[Dormilich]

look like it’s for a DB. you could also make the calculation there.