date('Y-m-01', strtotime('last month'));
date('Y-m-t', strtotime('last month'));
$currentMonth = date('M');// if number, then date('m');
//Last month
$lastMonth = Date("F", strtotime("first day of previous month");
$nextMonth = Date("F", strtotime("first day of next month");
//get first day of the current month
$start = date("Y-m-1 00:00:00");
//get current date of the month
$end = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
//query data for the current month so far
$query = $this->db_model->run_query("select column_1, column_2 from table where date_column BETWEEN '".$start."' AND '".$end."'");
$first = date('Y-m-01', strtotime('last month'));
$last = date('Y-m-t', strtotime('last month'));
$first_day_this_month = date('m-01-Y'); // hard-coded '01' for first day
$last_day_this_month = date('m-t-Y');
//Last month
$lastMonth = Date("F", strtotime("first day of previous month");
$nextMonth = Date("F", strtotime("first day of next month");