PHP outputting incorrect date

Question

I have this code:

$date = substr($item[8], 7, 9);
$date = str_replace('/', '-', $date);

At this point, $date contains:

12-21-12  <---- December 21, 2012

Now I am trying to output date into a input type="date" friendly format as such:

<input type="date" name="date" value="<?php echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime($date)); ?>">

But it won't output properly.

If I change type="date" to type="text" I see the following output:

1969-12-31

Clearly something isn't working right in

date('m-d-Y', strtotime($date));

Can anyone help me clear up the problem?

From PHP docs for strtotime: To avoid potential ambiguity, it's best to use ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) dates or DateTime::createFromFormat() when possible. — Žan Kusterle
– Žan Kusterle, Commented Dec 30, 2012 at 22:28
I think, in addition to what you're seeing in the answers, you're also doing american-style dates with european-style hyphens: codepad.org/mcKrN6DH — Jared Farrish
– Jared Farrish, Commented Dec 30, 2012 at 22:38

Niet the Dark Absol · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-30 22:27:16Z

2

Dates must be in Y-m-d format, not m-d-Y.

answered Dec 30, 2012 at 22:27

Niet the Dark Absol

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4 Comments

Niet the Dark Absol Over a year ago

@JaredFarrish Nope, it's in the specification

Jason McCreary Over a year ago

While it does answer the question, this doesn't solve the problem.

Jared Farrish Over a year ago

Hold on, look at the code; it's being sent incorrectly to the browser: codepad.org/mcKrN6DH It may be misformatted by rule, but it's also outputted incorrectly to the input.

Sweepster Over a year ago

Jared is correct. By removing $date = str_replace('/', '-', $date); the problem is solved.

Jason McCreary · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-30 22:29:15Z

2

If you are using PHP 5.3+, I encourage using the DateTime class.

In your case:

$date = DateTime::createFromFormat('m-d-y', '12-21-12');
echo $date->format('Y-m-d'); // 2012-12-21

As noted strtotime('12-21-12') because the date format is ambiguous in respect to the month and year.

answered Dec 30, 2012 at 22:29

Jason McCreary

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3 Comments

Sweepster Over a year ago

I guess I don't have php 5.3 because $date won't echo anything.

Jason McCreary Over a year ago

@Jonathan, unfortunate. Take a look at strptime() as noted by Matti.

Jared Farrish Over a year ago

Well, the PHP docs do say that this is the correct way to handle these date ambiguities. Removing the useless swap at the second line really solves the issue, though.

Sweepster · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-30 22:40:57Z

0

Removing

$date = str_replace('/', '-', $date);

Solves the problem.

answered Dec 30, 2012 at 22:40

Sweepster

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