Date validation using Pattern matching

[bytesonfire]

Hi All,

can anyone suggest how to validate a date (yyyymmdd format) using pattern match?

[Ganon11]

Use a regexp to match a series of 4 digits matched by a series of 2 digits followed by a series of 2 digits. Capture each of these matches, then make sure the month ($2) is between 1 and 12, and the day ($3) is between 1 and 28, 30, or 31 (depending on the month).

[venu4bytes]

A date-validation program
.

1: #!/usr/local/bin/perl
2:
3: print ("Enter a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD:\n");
4: $date = <STDIN>;
5: chop ($date);
6:
7: # Because this pattern is complicated, we split it
8: # into parts, assign the parts to scalar variables,
9: # then substitute them in later.
10:
11: # handle 31-day months
12: $md1 = "(0[13578]|1[02])\\2(0[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01])";
13: # handle 30-day months
14: $md2 = "(0[469]|11)\\2(0[1-9]|[12]\\d|30)";
15: # handle February, without worrying about whether it's
16: # supposed to be a leap year or not
17: $md3 = "02\\2(0[1-9]|[12]\\d)";
18:
19: # check for a twentieth-century date
20: $match = $date =~ /^(19)?\d\d(.)($md1|$md2|$md3)$/;
21: # check for a valid but non-20th century date
22: $olddate = $date =~ /^(\d{1,4})(.)($md1|$md2|$md3)$/;
23: if ($match) {
24: print ("$date is a valid date\n");
25: } elsif ($olddate) {
26: print ("$date is not in the 20th century\n");
27: } else {
28: print ("$date is not a valid date\n");
29: }

[KevinADC]

A date-validation program
.
1: #!/usr/local/bin/perl
2:
3: print ("Enter a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD:\n");
4: $date = <STDIN>;
5: chop ($date);
6:
7: # Because this pattern is complicated, we split it
8: # into parts, assign the parts to scalar variables,
9: # then substitute them in later.
10:
11: # handle 31-day months
12: $md1 = "(0[13578]|1[02])\\2(0[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01])";
13: # handle 30-day months
14: $md2 = "(0[469]|11)\\2(0[1-9]|[12]\\d|30)";
15: # handle February, without worrying about whether it's
16: # supposed to be a leap year or not
17: $md3 = "02\\2(0[1-9]|[12]\\d)";
18:
19: # check for a twentieth-century date
20: $match = $date =~ /^(19)?\d\d(.)($md1|$md2|$md3)$/;
21: # check for a valid but non-20th century date
22: $olddate = $date =~ /^(\d{1,4})(.)($md1|$md2|$md3)$/;
23: if ($match) {
24: print ("$date is a valid date\n");
25: } elsif ($olddate) {
26: print ("$date is not in the 20th century\n");
27: } else {
28: print ("$date is not a valid date\n");
29: }

looks like the code from Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 24 hours.

[bytesonfire]

I did somthing like this (validating only MMDD)

(0[1-9]|1[012])(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])

as year could be any value.;(

[numberwhun]

I did somthing like this (validating only MMDD)

(0[1-9]|1[012])(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])

as year could be any value.;(

Ok, then change it to make it validate to what you want. Whatever you would consider a valid date, modify the regex to allow for it.

How well versed are you in regex's? If you aren't, this is a good time to get up to speed.

Also, there are other ways to do it. You must remember, Google is your friend.

Regards,

Jeff