diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5c679d2..b719312 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file, in reverse
 
 ### Changed
 
-- Nothing.
+- [#69](https://github.com/zendframework/zend-hydrator/pull/69) adds support for special pre/post characters in formats passed to the
+  `DateTimeFormatterStrategy`. When used, the `DateTime` instances created
+  during hydration will (generally) omit the time element, allowing for more
+  accurate comparisons.
 
 ### Deprecated
 
diff --git a/docs/book/strategy.md b/docs/book/strategy.md
index bf70675..6e06b8f 100644
--- a/docs/book/strategy.md
+++ b/docs/book/strategy.md
@@ -104,6 +104,12 @@ This is a strategy that allows you to pass in options for:
 and DateTime instances. The input and output formats can be provided as
 constructor arguments.
 
+As of version 2.4.1, this strategy now allows `DateTime` formats that use `!` to
+prepend the format, or `|` or `+` to append it; these ensure that, during
+hydration, the new `DateTime` instance created will set the time element
+accordingly. As a specific example, `Y-m-d|` will drop the time component,
+ensuring comparisons are based on a midnight time value.
+
 ### Zend\\Hydrator\\Strategy\\DefaultStrategy
 
 The `DefaultStrategy` simply proxies everything through, without performing any
diff --git a/src/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategy.php b/src/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategy.php
index c106993..24955af 100644
--- a/src/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategy.php
+++ b/src/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategy.php
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 final class DateTimeFormatterStrategy implements StrategyInterface
 {
     /**
+     * Format to use during hydration.
+     *
      * @var string
      */
     private $format;
@@ -25,6 +27,18 @@ final class DateTimeFormatterStrategy implements StrategyInterface
      */
     private $timezone;
 
+    /**
+     * Format to use during extraction.
+     *
+     * Removes any special anchor characters used to ensure that creation of a
+     * `DateTime` instance uses the formatted time string (which is useful
+     * during hydration).  These include `!` at the beginning of the string and
+     * `|` at the end.
+     *
+     * @var string
+     */
+    private $extractionFormat;
+
     /**
      * Constructor
      *
@@ -33,8 +47,9 @@ final class DateTimeFormatterStrategy implements StrategyInterface
      */
     public function __construct($format = DateTime::RFC3339, DateTimeZone $timezone = null)
     {
-        $this->format   = (string) $format;
+        $this->format = (string) $format;
         $this->timezone = $timezone;
+        $this->extractionFormat = preg_replace('/(?<![\\\\])[+|!\*]/', '', $this->format);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -42,14 +57,13 @@ public function __construct($format = DateTime::RFC3339, DateTimeZone $timezone
      *
      * Converts to date time string
      *
-     * @param mixed|DateTime $value
-     *
+     * @param mixed|DateTimeInterface $value
      * @return mixed|string
      */
     public function extract($value)
     {
         if ($value instanceof DateTimeInterface) {
-            return $value->format($this->format);
+            return $value->format($this->extractionFormat);
         }
 
         return $value;
@@ -61,7 +75,6 @@ public function extract($value)
      * {@inheritDoc}
      *
      * @param mixed|string $value
-     *
      * @return mixed|DateTime
      */
     public function hydrate($value)
@@ -70,11 +83,9 @@ public function hydrate($value)
             return;
         }
 
-        if ($this->timezone) {
-            $hydrated = DateTime::createFromFormat($this->format, $value, $this->timezone);
-        } else {
-            $hydrated = DateTime::createFromFormat($this->format, $value);
-        }
+        $hydrated = $this->timezone
+            ? DateTime::createFromFormat($this->format, $value, $this->timezone)
+            : DateTime::createFromFormat($this->format, $value);
 
         return $hydrated ?: $value;
     }
diff --git a/test/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategyTest.php b/test/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategyTest.php
index 2fadc8c..e0e8d7e 100644
--- a/test/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategyTest.php
+++ b/test/Strategy/DateTimeFormatterStrategyTest.php
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
  */
 class DateTimeFormatterStrategyTest extends TestCase
 {
+
     public function testHydrate()
     {
         $strategy = new DateTimeFormatterStrategy('Y-m-d');
@@ -100,4 +101,49 @@ public function testCanExtractAnyDateTimeInterface()
         $strategy->extract($dateMock);
         $strategy->extract($dateImmutableMock);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider formatsWithSpecialCharactersProvider
+     * @param string $format
+     * @param string $expectedValue
+     */
+    public function testAcceptsCreateFromFormatSpecialCharacters($format, $expectedValue)
+    {
+        $strategy = new DateTimeFormatterStrategy($format);
+        $hydrated = $strategy->hydrate($expectedValue);
+
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(DateTime::class, $hydrated);
+        $this->assertEquals($expectedValue, $hydrated->format('Y-m-d'));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider formatsWithSpecialCharactersProvider
+     * @param string $format
+     * @param string $expectedValue
+     */
+    public function testCanExtractWithCreateFromFormatSpecialCharacters($format, $expectedValue)
+    {
+        $date      = DateTime::createFromFormat($format, $expectedValue);
+        $strategy  = new DateTimeFormatterStrategy($format);
+        $extracted = $strategy->extract($date);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($expectedValue, $extracted);
+    }
+
+    public function testCanExtractWithCreateFromFormatEscapedSpecialCharacters()
+    {
+        $date      = DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d', '2018-02-05');
+        $strategy  = new DateTimeFormatterStrategy('Y-m-d\\+');
+        $extracted = $strategy->extract($date);
+        $this->assertEquals('2018-02-05+', $extracted);
+    }
+
+    public function formatsWithSpecialCharactersProvider()
+    {
+        return [
+            '!-prepended' => ['!Y-m-d', '2018-02-05'],
+            '|-appended'  => ['Y-m-d|', '2018-02-05'],
+            '+-appended'  => ['Y-m-d+', '2018-02-05'],
+        ];
+    }
 }