PHP date conversion needed

PHP Date comparision.

I have a date string that uses this format:

Examples:
Friday, 28 December, 2012
Sunday, 25 December 2012
Monday, 1 January 2013

I need to the above date strings converted to a the following date format: "Y-m-d", so I compare it to that date format (today''s date).

Since the day is in front, when I convert it - it gives me the wrong date. So my function code is off.

Thanks!

JC

567082836

Asked: 2012-12-28

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1 Solution

LVL 111

Ray PaseurCommented: 2012-12-28

PHP strtotime() and date() are your friend. Please read this and then post back with any questions.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web_Development/Web_Languages-Standards/PHP/A_201-Handling-date-and-time-in-PHP-and-MySQL.html

LVL 111

Ray PaseurCommented: 2012-12-29

Please see http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_567.php

<?php // RAY_temp_567.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo '<pre>';

// TEST DATA FROM THE POST AT EE
$dates = <<<END
Friday, 28 December, 2012
Sunday, 25 December 2012
Monday, 1 January 2013
END;

// REQUIRED FOR TZ/DATE/TIME FUNCTIONS
date_default_timezone_set('America/Chicago');

// PROCESS EACH OF THE DATES
$arr = explode(PHP_EOL, $dates);
foreach ($arr as $date)
{
    // REMOVE THE DAY OF THE WEEK
    $xxx  = explode(',', $date);
    $date = trim($xxx[1]);

    // CONVERT TO UNIX TIMESTAMP
    $timestamp = strtotime($date);

    // REFORMAT THE TIMESTAMP ACCORDING TO A PATTERN
    $iso8601   = date('c', $timestamp);
    $ymdstring = date('Y-m-d', $timestamp);

    // SHOW THE WORK PRODUCT
    echo PHP_EOL;
    echo $date;
    echo ' = ';
    echo $ymdstring;
    echo ' = ';
    echo $iso8601;
}

Open in new window

HTH, ~Ray

LVL 15

InsoftserviceCommented: 2012-12-29

$d= "Friday, 28 December, 2012";
echo date('Y-m-d',strtotime($d));

LVL 111

Ray PaseurCommented: 2012-12-29

@insoftservice: The issue here is that the first information to the strtotime() function controls the output from the function. To see it in action, try these dates. Then you can see why I recommend removing the day of the week. It doesn't work if the day of the week is present! That is the central issue that the author noted.

Friday, 27 December, 2012
Friday, 28 December, 2012
Friday, 29 December, 2012

LVL 15

InsoftserviceCommented: 2012-12-29

ya @Ray you are right thx for info.

$d= "Sunday, 25 December 2012";
$dt = explode(',',$d);
echo date('Y-m-d',strtotime($dt[1]));

LVL 111

Ray PaseurCommented: 2012-12-29

It's kind of goofy behavior from PHP strtotime() -- It seems to me that a date that cannot exist should return FALSE. I added a manual note to the strtotime() page on PHP.net. It should show up in a few days.

567082836Author Commented: 2013-01-02

@Ray
I just tried your code.. so close.. "explode function" it is stripping out the Day of the Week but also the year. So for example: "Friday, 27 December, 2012" turns into 2013-12-15. It should be 2012-12-15. The year is off.

@insoftservice,
I just tried your code but my date string is actually this:
Friday, 27 December, 2012
You can see there are 2 commas in this string. So when I tested your code it removed FRIDAY and the year 2012. Which outputted the wrong year.

You guys are very close.. if possible see if you can make some changes..

Thank you!

JC

LVL 111

Ray PaseurCommented: 2013-01-02

Maybe you should have tried it last year ;-) Here is a better approach.
http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_567.php

<?php // RAY_temp_567.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo '<pre>';

// TEST DATA FROM THE POST AT EE
$dates = <<<END
Friday, 28 December, 2012
Sunday, 25 December 2012
Monday, 1 January 2013
END;

// REQUIRED FOR TZ/DATE/TIME FUNCTIONS
date_default_timezone_set('America/Chicago');

// PROCESS EACH OF THE DATES
$arr = explode(PHP_EOL, $dates);
foreach ($arr as $date)
{
    // REMOVE THE DAY OF THE WEEK
    $xxx  = explode(',', $date);
    unset($xxx[0]);
    $date = trim(implode(' ', $xxx));

    // CONVERT TO UNIX TIMESTAMP
    $timestamp = strtotime($date);

    // REFORMAT THE TIMESTAMP ACCORDING TO A PATTERN
    $iso8601   = date('c', $timestamp);
    $ymdstring = date('Y-m-d', $timestamp);

    // SHOW THE WORK PRODUCT
    echo PHP_EOL;
    echo $date;
    echo ' = ';
    echo $ymdstring;
    echo ' = ';
    echo $iso8601;
}

Open in new window

Best, ~Ray

567082836Author Commented: 2013-01-02

It worked! Very awesome!

Thank you!!

JC

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