[SOLVED] preg_match for date checking

[vmavrou]

Hi,

i want to check for dates with this form yyyy-mm-dd, ex 2009-11-20

i have made this :

 

$pattern = "((19|20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]))";

 

$test =2009-11-01;

 

if (preg_match($pattern,$test)>0) {

echo "ok";

} else

{ echo "false"; }

 

but always getting false..am i doing something wrong with the pattern?

[salathe]

Can you do var_dump($test); ? If your code is the same as in the post above, its value will be 1997 and not the date that you think it is.

[vmavrou]

yes you are right...

 

i got this : int(1997)

 

but what this means? and what am i doing wrong??

[vmavrou]

oh!! 

i'm dumb...you are so right !

 

fixed it! thanks alot! (missed the "")

[nrg_alpha]

$pattern = "((19|20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]))";

 

You could also use interval quantifiers like \d{2} instead of \d\d (no harm either way granted). And as for the dash, you don't need to have it in a character class (as in this case, the character class doesn't serve any truly useful purpose).

[salathe]

Also bear in mind that your pattern will allow anything (or nothing) before and after the date. As it stands, the value abc 2009-11-20 def will match (and your script will echo ok).  For more info on what to do, take a peek at http://php.net/regexp.reference.circudollar and http://www.regular-expressions.info/anchors.html