php date string to timestamp - inverse_date()

Question

I'm looking for a function that does the inverse of date(). Meaning:

$timestamp = inverse_date($format_string, $date_string);
$d = date($format_string, $timestamp);
if ($d === $date_string) {
    echo 'This is what I want';
}

Problems I've run into so far:

strtotime - guesses format, so it might not be good for all formats

strptime - uses strftime's formatting that is different from date's

SOLUTION:

function inverse_date($format_string, $date_string) {
    $dateTime = date_create_from_format($format_string, $date_string);
    $value_ts = date_format($dateTime, 'U');
    return $value_ts;
}

Thanks to Till Helge Helwig for the link.

Maybe [this post](http://stackoverflow.com/a/2767419/989169) contains something helpful for you? — Till Helge, Mar 27 '12 at 16:19
what's your desired input and output? I don't understand your question — JKirchartz, Mar 27 '12 at 16:20
why should strtotime not be ok? you can convert any english format date to a timestamp and the timestamp is easy to format then. You could prove the date first. — F. Müller, Mar 27 '12 at 16:22
my desired input is a date string, and the format string (that I know), and the output is the timestamp. I need this to compare a given date string with the current timestamp to decide if it's in the past — Gavriel, Mar 27 '12 at 16:33
strtotime guesses the format, and so I can't depend on it. What would you think when I give you 01/02/03 or 03-04-05? — Gavriel, Mar 27 '12 at 16:34

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 03 '12 at 12:23

0

function inverse_date($format_string, $date_string) {
    $dateTime = date_create_from_format($format_string, $date_string);
    $value_ts = date_format($dateTime, 'U');
    return $value_ts;
}

answered May 03 '12 at 12:23

Gavriel

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php date string to timestamp - inverse_date()

1 Answers1