Thanks for the replies,
I would actually prefer it to return false for a string like "I " rather than a date. The code I have is checking for dates embeded in text, and they will always be at the start of a string. Unfortunately the date can be just about any format the users PC has it set to, so I cant look for specific formats. I realise that 100% accuracy is therfore not possible, but 99% will do
I did consider it was considering it to be roman numerals, but 'IV', 'V' or 'II' does return false, so I gave up on that idea.
For now, I will leave my code checking for 'I<space>' at the start of a string. Not pretty, but I dont have time right now to step through the PHP souce.
Anyway,
Thanks for the replies