php date validation

Question

Im trying to to set up a php date validation (MM/DD/YYYY) but I'm having issues. Here is a sample of what I got:

$date_regex = '%\A(0[1-9]|1[012])[- /.](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[- /.](19|20)\d\d\z%'; 

$test_date = '03/22/2010'; 
if (preg_match($date_regex, $test_date,$_POST['birthday']) ==true) {
    $errors[] = 'user name most have no spaces';`

Answer 1

I know this is an older post, but I've developed the following function for validating a date:

function IsDateTime($aDateTime) {
    try {
        $fTime = new DateTime($aDateTime);
        $fTime->format('m/d/Y H:i:s');
        return true;
    }
    catch (Exception $e) {
        return false;
    }
}

Answer 2

We can use simple "date" input type, like below:

Birth date: <input type="date" name="userBirthDate" /><br />

Then we can link DateTime interface with built-in function 'explode':

public function validateDate()
    {
        $validateFlag = true;
        $convertBirthDate = DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d', $this->birthDate);
        $birthDateErrors = DateTime::getLastErrors();

        if ($birthDateErrors['warning_count'] + $birthDateErrors['error_count'] > 0)
        {
            $_SESSION['wrongDateFormat'] = "The date format is wrong.";
        }

        else
        {
            $testBirthDate = explode('-', $this->birthDate);
            if ($testBirthDate[0] < 1900)
            {
                $validateFlag = false;
                $_SESSION['wrongDateYear'] = "We suspect that you did not born before XX century.";
            }
        }

        return $validateFlag;
    }

I tested it on Google Chrome and IE, everything works correctly. Furthemore, Chrome display simple additional interface. If you don't write anything in input or write it in bad format (correctly is following: '1919-12-23'), you will get the first statement. If you write everything in good format, but you type wrong date (I assumed that nobody could born before XX century), your controller will send the second statement.

Answer 3

Not sure if this answer the question or going to help....

$dt = '6/26/1970' ; // or // '6.26.1970' ;

$dt = preg_replace("([.]+)", "/", $dt);

$test_arr  = explode('/', $dt);

if (checkdate($test_arr[0], $test_arr[1], $test_arr[2]) && preg_match("/[0-9]{1,2}\/[0-9]{1,2}\/[0-9]{4}/", $dt))

     { echo(date('Y-m-d', strtotime("$dt")) . "<br>"); }

   else

     { echo "no good...format must be in mm/dd/yyyy"; }

Answer 4

Instead of the bulky DateTime object .. just use the core date() function

function isValidDate($date, $format= 'Y-m-d'){
    return $date == date($format, strtotime($date));
}

Answer 5

I think it will help somebody.

function isValidDate($thedate) {
    $data = [
        'separators' => array("/", "-", "."),
        'date_array' => '',
        'day_index' => '',
        'year' => '',
        'month' => '',
        'day' => '',
        'status' => false
    ];

    // loop through to break down the date
    foreach ($data['separators'] as $separator) {
        $data['date_array'] = explode($separator, $thedate);
        if (count($data['date_array']) == 3) {
            $data['status'] = true;
            break;
        }
    }

    // err, if more than 4 character or not int
    if ($data['status']) {
        foreach ($data['date_array'] as $value) {
            if (strlen($value) > 4 || !is_numeric($value)) {
                $data['status'] = false;
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    // get the year
    if ($data['status']) {
        if (strlen($data['date_array'][0]) == 4) {
            $data['year'] = $data['date_array'][0];
            $data['day_index'] = 2;
        }elseif (strlen($data['date_array'][2]) == 4) {
            $data['year'] = $data['date_array'][2];
            $data['day_index'] = 0;
        }else {
            $data['status'] = false;
        }
    }

    // get the month
    if ($data['status']) {
        if (strlen($data['date_array'][1]) == 2) {
            $data['month'] = $data['date_array'][1];
        }else {
            $data['status'] = false;
        }
    }

    // get the day
    if ($data['status']) {
        if (strlen($data['date_array'][$data['day_index']]) == 2) {
            $data['day'] = $data['date_array'][$data['day_index']];
        }else {
            $data['status'] = false;
        }
    }

    // finally validate date
    if ($data['status']) {
        return checkdate($data['month'] , $data['day'], $data['year']);
    }

    return false;
}

Answer 6

You could use checkdate. For example, something like this:

$test_date = '03/22/2010';
$test_arr  = explode('/', $test_date);
if (checkdate($test_arr[0], $test_arr[1], $test_arr[2])) {
    // valid date ...
}

A more paranoid approach, that doesn't blindly believe the input:

$test_date = '03/22/2010';
$test_arr  = explode('/', $test_date);
if (count($test_arr) == 3) {
    if (checkdate($test_arr[0], $test_arr[1], $test_arr[2])) {
        // valid date ...
    } else {
        // problem with dates ...
    }
} else {
    // problem with input ...
}