For use in Versions prior V5.3:
<?php
if (!function_exists('date_parse_from_format')) {
function date_parse_from_format($format, $date) {
// reverse engineer date formats
$keys = array(
'Y' => array('year', '\d{4}'),
'y' => array('year', '\d{2}'),
'm' => array('month', '\d{2}'),
'n' => array('month', '\d{1,2}'),
'M' => array('month', '[A-Z][a-z]{3}'),
'F' => array('month', '[A-Z][a-z]{2,8}'),
'd' => array('day', '\d{2}'),
'j' => array('day', '\d{1,2}'),
'D' => array('day', '[A-Z][a-z]{2}'),
'l' => array('day', '[A-Z][a-z]{6,9}'),
'u' => array('hour', '\d{1,6}'),
'h' => array('hour', '\d{2}'),
'H' => array('hour', '\d{2}'),
'g' => array('hour', '\d{1,2}'),
'G' => array('hour', '\d{1,2}'),
'i' => array('minute', '\d{2}'),
's' => array('second', '\d{2}')
);
// convert format string to regex
$regex = '';
$chars = str_split($format);
foreach ($chars AS $n => $char) {
$lastChar = isset($chars[$n - 1]) ? $chars[$n - 1] : '';
$skipCurrent = '\\' == $lastChar;
if (!$skipCurrent && isset($keys[$char])) {
$regex .= '(?P<' . $keys[$char][0] . '>' . $keys[$char][1] . ')';
} else if ('\\' == $char) {
$regex .= $char;
} else {
$regex .= preg_quote($char);
}
}
$dt = array();
$dt['error_count'] = 0;
// now try to match it
if (preg_match('#^' . $regex . '$#', $date, $dt)) {
foreach ($dt AS $k => $v) {
if (is_int($k)) {
unset($dt[$k]);
}
}
if (!checkdate($dt['month'], $dt['day'], $dt['year'])) {
$dt['error_count'] = 1;
}
} else {
$dt['error_count'] = 1;
}
$dt['errors'] = array();
$dt['fraction'] = '';
$dt['warning_count'] = 0;
$dt['warnings'] = array();
$dt['is_localtime'] = 0;
$dt['zone_type'] = 0;
$dt['zone'] = 0;
$dt['is_dst'] = '';
return $dt;
}
}
?>
Not my invention though. I found it here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6668223/php-date-parse-from-format-alternative-in-php-5-2
Thought this might be a good place to keep a copy in case someone stumbles upon the same problem facing outdated PHP versions on customer servers ....