How to convert a carbon into string, to take the date only?

i prefere this

$model_item->created_at->toDateString();

since all date fields that located in protected $dates array in the modal is type of \Carbon\Carbon.

so the above code could apply to any date field as long as you declared it as date in $dates array in the modal as follow

// this includes created_at and updated_at by default so no need to add it 
protected $dates = ['approved', 'seen_at'];

$collection_item->created_at->format('Y-m-d');

It is also possible to add automatic casting to your model, for example :

protected $casts = [
    'created_at' => 'date:Y-m-d',
    'updated_at' => 'datetime:Y-m-d H:00',
];

Remark : your mileage may vary depending on your Laravel version

https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/eloquent-mutators#date-casting

https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/eloquent-serialization#date-serialization

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