The date function document contains errors or is missing information. #5460
Description
Affected page
Current issue
The date function was defined in the documentation as returning "a string or false" until 2022, but from 2023 onwards, the description has been changed to "a string only". This is likely due to the introduction of nullability in PHP 8, but there is no mention of this change in the version history or in the section on return values, which is extremely unhelpful.
If it used to return false in PHP 7 and earlier, that should have been noted.
Suggested improvement
Please revert to the previous description of the return value: "Returns a formatted date string. If a non-numeric value is used for timestamp, false is returned and an E_WARNING level error is emitted." Also, if the behavior is different in PHP8, please add a note stating "This behavior occurs in PHP7 and earlier."
Furthermore, please include this change in the Changelog.
Additional context (optional)
2022-12-17 weyback machines archieve: https://web.archive.org/web/20221215104026/https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php