Laravel: how to set date format on model attribute casting?

Instead of casting a date format, you can use mutators to set the format you like:

For example, if your column was called date, you can add the following function to your model:

public function setDateAttribute( $value ) {
  $this->attributes['date'] = (new Carbon($value))->format('d/m/y');
}

The setDateAttribute is always in the format set[ColumnName]Attribute, using CamelCase. The date in the $this->attributes['date'] part must also match your actual column name in the table.

When you create or update a record in your database, the format will automatically be changed by the function above.

Note: You may need to add the use Carbon\Carbon statement to the top of your Model to use the Carbon library.

Take a look at other examples here.

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UPDATE

Optionally, you can define a format for date columns using:

protected $dateFormat = 'Y-m-d';

After laravel 5.6,

You can individually customize the format of Eloquent date and datetime casting:

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

This format is used when the model is serialized to an array or JSON data