Regular Expression Problem

[wwolfson]

Hiya all,

I'm trying to validate a date in php to be in the form 12-Sep-2006 for example. However, for some reason the following regex wont work.

function validate_date($date)
{
if (ereg("^([012]?\d|3[01])-([Jj][Aa][Nn]|[Ff][Ee][bB]|[Mm][Aa][Rr]|[Aa][Pp] [Rr]|[Mm][Aa][Yy]|[Jj][Uu][Nn]|[Jj][u]l|[aA][Uu][gG]|[Ss][eE][pP]|[oO][Cc] |[Nn][oO][Vv]|[Dd][Ee][Cc])-(19|20)\d\d$", $date))
{
    return true;
}
 

However, in javascript the following code does work:

if (date.match(/([012]?\d|3[01])-([Jj][Aa][Nn]|[Ff][Ee][bB]|[Mm][Aa][Rr]|[Aa] [Pp][Rr]|[Mm][Aa][Yy]|[Jj][Uu][Nn]|[Jj][u]l|[aA][Uu][gG]|[Ss][eE][pP]|[oO] [Cc]|[Nn][oO][Vv]|[Dd][Ee][Cc])-(19|20)\d\d/))
 

Can someone please explain this to me and tell me how to go about getting the php regex to behave properly?
Thank you, William.

[pbmods]

Heya, William.

Instead of using a regular expression, try using strtotime():

function makeSafe_date($date)
{
     return date('d-M-Y', strtotime($date));
}
 

[Weisbartb]

Another thing is that you should be using preg_match() not ereg().

[wwolfson]

Sorry, I have tried using preg_match() but it makes no difference and I do not see how strtodate will help me in any way.

I am using this as a validator to keep dates in the form 13-Sep-2007.

Thanks.

[azang]

I think the first section went wrong. i.e. for the DAY part. try this:

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

[LINK TO BLOG REMOVED]- Moderator

[wwolfson]

still no luck, any more ideas anyone?
sorry.
william.

[pbmods]

Heya, William.

strtotime() can turn *any* valid date string into a Unix timestamp. date() takes a Unix timestamp and turns it into a formatted date.

As long as strtotime() doesn't return false, you know that the User submitted a valid date/time string. You can then use date() to force the date into a format of your choosing.

A slightly better version of makeSafe_date() would look like this:

function validateDate($str)
{
    $test = strtotime($str);
 
    if( ! $test )
    {
        return false;
    }
 
    return date('d-M-Y', $test);
}
 

Then all you have to do is make sure validateDate() doesn't return false.

[ronnil]

Heya, William.

strtotime() can turn *any* valid date string into a Unix timestamp. date() takes a Unix timestamp and turns it into a formatted date.

As long as strtotime() doesn't return false, you know that the User submitted a valid date/time string. You can then use date() to force the date into a format of your choosing.

A slightly better version of makeSafe_date() would look like this:

function validateDate($str)
{
    $test = strtotime($str);
 
    if( ! $test )
    {
        return false;
    }
 
    return date('d-M-Y', $test);
}
 

Then all you have to do is make sure validateDate() doesn't return false.

There's a problem though.... passing 01-02-2007, there's no way of telling if the user meant 1st of February or 2nd of January. It's mostly a problem on international sites i guess. Personally i write how the user should input the date, and trust they are not complete morons (i ofc check that it is a valid date of some sort)

[Weisbartb]

You can always convert it to a unix_time stamp validate that that time stamp doesn't equal 0 (false return) then convert it into whatever date you want.

[wwolfson]

But will this work if the form is

02-Sep-2003
i.e. the month in words and not numbers

??

Thanks.

[pbmods]

Heya, William.

But will this work if the form is

02-Sep-2003
i.e. the month in words and not numbers

You betcha.

[Weisbartb]

strtotime() will convert almost every readable and known time/date input.

[wwolfson]

I'm really sorry, this is starting to annoy me now.
Still not working!
please could someone check this out and tell me wats wrong:

function validate_date($date)
{
$test = strtotime($date);
if( !$test )
{
    return false;
}
        date('d-M-Y', $test);
}
 

$date = $_POST['date'];
 

        if (validate_event($event) == true && 
        validate_location($location) == true &&
        validate_date($date) != false &&
        validate_time($time) == true) 
 

Wat is wrong here?? :'(

Thanks, William.

[pbmods]

Heya, William.

Compare this:

function validateDate($str)
{
    $test = strtotime($str);
 
    if( ! $test )
    {
        return false;
    }
 
    return date('d-M-Y', $test);
}

with this:

function validate_date($date)
{
$test = strtotime($date);
if( !$test )
{
    return false;
}
        date('d-M-Y', $test);
}
 

Something's missing....