Question

I have a function that takes a string date in the format 08/24/2010 and turns it into a timestamp. The problem I have is that dates such as 08/24/2090 are converted improperly.

Here is my function:

/**
* Converts a date to a timestamp
* for a date formatted such as: 08/24/2010 12:00:00, 08-24-2010 12:00:00 or 08/24/2010
* 
* @param string date
* @return string
*/
public static function dateToTimeStamp($date)
{
    if (!strstr($date, ' ')) $date .= ' ' . date('h:i:s');
    list($date, $time) = explode(' ', $date);
    list($month, $day, $year) = (strstr($date, '/') ? explode('/', $date) : explode('-', $date));
    list($hour, $minute, $second) = explode(':', $time);

    $timestamp = mktime($hour, $minute, $second, $month, $day, $year);
    return date('Y-m-d h:i:s', $timestamp);
} 

I just passed in 09/30/2090 and I get back 1969-12-31 04:00:00 but when I pass in 09/30/2020, I get back 2020-09-30 08:54:44.

Answer 1

If you need dates that fall outside the 32-bit range of a Unix timestamp, you should start using the PHP datetime object which gives you a daterange that predates the big bang, and will probably even outlive the burn-out of the sun