Date Formatting Problem

[refiking]

I can't figure this out for anything!  I'm trying to convert a date (m-d-Y) to (Y-m-d H:i:s) prior to db entry. Here's the code:

 

 

$date_added = date('Y-m-d 00:00:00', strtotime($_POST['date_added']));
echo $date_added; echo'<hr>'; echo $_POST['date_added']; exit;

[requinix]

And the problem is...?

 

strtotime() doesn't accept m-d-Y format. If you know that's the format of the input then you need to get the pieces yourself.

if (preg_match('/^(\d\d?)-(\d\d?)-(\d\d\d?\d?)$/', $_POST["date_added"], $matches) && checkdate((int)$matches[1], (int)$matches[2], (int)$matches[3]) {
    // assume it's m-d-Y format
    $date = mktime(0, 0, 0, (int)$matches[1], (int)$matches[2], (int)$matches[3]);
} else {
    $date = strtotime($_POST["date_added"]);
}

Or if you don't mind using m/d/Y format (ie, with slashes instead of hyphens) that will work.

 

Even better: unless you need lots of flexibility with dates, give the user a datepicker-type widget and you can always get a standard format (like Y-m-d) back from your form.

[refiking]

I'd figured out the issue (probably while you were posting).  Had to str_replace the slashes.....sheesh I hate missing the ones staring me in the face!