Using PHP strtotime() function

Question

I'm getting an external RSS Feed Post in different website, what I noticed is that they all have a different format of Publish Date. Some uses a formatting like this:

2012-04-09T08:23:07Z

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43  0000

There are still lots of format but I was just showing you two examples.

Now, I want everything to have a uniform format, so i'm using strtotime(). Here's my code:

$date = "2012-04-09T08:23:07Z";
date( "F d, Y", strtotime( $date ) );
/* Result: April 09, 2012 */

My problem here is the second format Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43 0000

There is a 0000 at the last which makes the strtotime() act weird.

$date = "Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43  0000";
 date( "F d, Y", strtotime( $date ) );
 /* Result: April 06, 0000 */

Obviously the result should be April 06,2012.

My question here is that how can I not let strtotime() act weird when it detects a format that has a 0000 at the last. Any idea how to do this? Your help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! :)

Thanks!

Did you find any other datetime formats that cause a problem? If this is the only one, you may just have to special case strings that end in "0000". — inspector-g
– inspector-g, Commented Apr 23, 2012 at 4:00

Ja͢ck · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-23 04:12:34Z

1

I'm pretty sure you have a formatting issue:

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43  0000

Notice the two spaces before 0000? That's not a coincidence. The original is probably this:

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43 +0000

Which is generated with gmdate(DATE_RFC822). In URI's, the + symbol often gets translated to a space. I think that's your problem.

answered Apr 23, 2012 at 4:12

Ja͢ck

174k39 gold badges269 silver badges316 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

PinoyStackOverflower Over a year ago

Yes, I noticed that one too, there's a + symbl before the 0000, but when I stored it in the database the + symbol is gone, is it because I tried to mysql_real_escape_string() it?

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

Nope, mysql_real_escape_string doesn't escape + characters, so perhaps this happens when you extract it from the XML?

the_red_baron · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-23 04:01:56Z

1

How about just stripping the "0000"? Something like:

$date=str_replace("0000", "", $date);

answered Apr 23, 2012 at 4:01

the_red_baron

8887 silver badges14 bronze badges

1 Comment

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

RFC822 doesn't indicate GMT as a prerequisite, so it could also end with 0800.

Mithun Satheesh · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-23 04:02:30Z

1

try this:

<?php 
$date = "Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43 0000";

 if (strtotime($date) !== false) 
 {
 $timestamp = strtotime($date);
     echo date( "F d, Y", $timestamp );
 } 
 else 
 {
     echo "error";
 }

 ?>

for $date = "Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43 0000"; outputs error.

$date = "Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:25:43"; gives output.

answered Apr 23, 2012 at 4:02

Mithun Satheesh

27.9k14 gold badges80 silver badges103 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Using PHP strtotime() function

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related