How to set Date in dd.mm.yyyy format

I have two functions, below, that I use in a help file. They are in Portuguese but it is easy to change to other languages, they are self-explanatory.;

In Portuguese we use the preposition 'de' - in English, 'of' - between the day, month and year:
02 de fevereiro of 2022 => if it were also used in English it would look like this: 02 of February of 2022.

PHP Code:

function diames() // diames = daymonth
{
    setlocale(LC_TIME, 'pt', 'portuguese');
    date_default_timezone_set('America/Sao_Paulo');

    return utf8_encode(strftime('%d de %B', strtotime('today')));

}

function daymonth() // daymonthyear = daymonthyear
{
    setlocale(LC_TIME, 'pt', 'portuguese');
    date_default_timezone_set('America/Sao_Paulo');

    return utf8_encode(strftime('%d de %B de %Y', strtotime('today')));
    
} 


If plan A fails, relax... the alphabet is 26 letters