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.

what's your desired input and output? I don't understand your question — JKirchartz
– JKirchartz, Commented Mar 27, 2012 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
– F. Müller, Commented Mar 27, 2012 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
– Gavriel, Commented Mar 27, 2012 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
– Gavriel, Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 16:34

Gavriel · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 12:23:04Z

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 3, 2012 at 12:23

Gavriel

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