Question

Is there a function that uses the date() format to interpret a string?

echo date('s-i-H d:m:Y', 1304591364); // 34-29-17 05:05:2011

// Does this function exist?
echo inverse_date('s-i-H d:m:Y', '34-29-17 05:05:2011'); // 1304591364

I know strtotime(), but it’s failing me in most cases as I am not parsing English date formats.

I’m looking for a function that can dictate the format.

Answer 1

The real answer to this question the way I mean it is
http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.createfromformat.php

    $date = date_create_from_format('j-M-Y', '15-Feb-2009');
    echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d'); // 2009-02-15