Question

My code

$time = "Tuesday, 26 June 2012";
//str_replace(',','',$time);<--this also doesn't work.
$a = strptime($time, "%l, %j %F %Y");
$stmp = mktime(0,0,0,$a['tm_mon'],$a['tm_mday'],$a['tm_year'],0);
$from_stmp = date("l, j F Y H:i:s", $stmp);
echo $from_stmp; //Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00:00

Now i know there is a more elegant way, that actually works:

$time = "Tuesday, 26 June 2012";
$stmp = strtotime($time);
$from_stmp = date("l, j F Y H:i:s", $stmp);
echo $from_stmp;//Tuesday, 26 June 2012 00:00:00

But what’s wrong with the first version? I’m just curious.

Answer 1

Problem #1

$a = strptime(time, "%l, %j %F %Y");

You wrote time; it should be $time.

Problem #2

Your format string is wrong. strptime doesn’t use the same format strings as date, just with percentage signs in front; it has its own set. Your format string should look like this:

$a = strptime($time, "%A, %e %B %Y");

Problem #3

• strptime returns a number of years since 1900. You need to add 1900.
• strptime returns a month from 0 to 11. You need to add 1.

All summed up

Here’s your code, fixed:

<?php
$time = "Tuesday, 26 June 2012";
$a = strptime($time, "%A, %e %B %Y");

$stmp = mktime(0, 0, 0, $a['tm_mon'] + 1, $a['tm_mday'], 1900 + $a['tm_year']);
$from_stmp = date("l, j F Y H:i:s", $stmp);
echo $from_stmp;
?>

Hooray, it works!