How to convert number to month name in PHP?

In PHP, you can convert a month number to its corresponding month name using several built-in functions. The most common approaches are using date() with mktime() or the DateTime class.

Using date() with mktime()

The mktime() function creates a timestamp, which can then be formatted using date() to get the month name ?

<?php
    $month_number = 11;
    echo "Month number: $month_number
";
    
    // Convert month number to full month name
    $month_name = date("F", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month_number, 1));
    echo "Full month name: $month_name
";
    
    // Convert to short month name
    $short_month = date("M", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month_number, 1));
    echo "Short month name: $short_month
";
?>

Month number: 11
Full month name: November
Short month name: Nov

Using DateTime Class

The DateTime class provides a more object-oriented approach for month conversion ?

<?php
    $month_number = 12;
    echo "Month number: $month_number
";
    
    // Create DateTime object from month number
    $date_obj = DateTime::createFromFormat('!m', $month_number);
    
    // Get full month name
    $full_name = $date_obj->format('F');
    echo "Full month name: $full_name
";
    
    // Get short month name
    $short_name = $date_obj->format('M');
    echo "Short month name: $short_name
";
?>

Month number: 12
Full month name: December
Short month name: Dec

Converting from Date String

You can also extract the month name from a complete date string ?

<?php
    $date_string = "2019-11-15";
    echo "Date: $date_string
";
    
    // Extract month name from date string
    $month_name = date("F", strtotime($date_string));
    echo "Month name: $month_name
";
    
    // Alternative using DateTime
    $date_obj = new DateTime($date_string);
    $month_alt = $date_obj->format('F');
    echo "Month (alternative): $month_alt
";
?>

Date: 2019-11-15
Month name: November
Month (alternative): November

Conclusion

Use date("F", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month_number, 1)) for a simple conversion or DateTime::createFromFormat('!m', $month_number) for object-oriented approach. Both methods support full ("F") and abbreviated ("M") month names.