convert php date to mysql format

Question

I have a date field in php which is using this code:

$date = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['intake_date']);

How do I convert this to MySql format 0000-00-00 for inclusion in db. Is it along the lines of: date('Y-m-d' strtotime($date);. The reason I ask, is because I have tried variations of this and I cannot seem to get it to work. Either displays as 1970 or some other variation of that. Many thanks

Answer 1

$date = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['intake_date']);

1. If your MySQL column is DATE type:

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

2. If your MySQL column is DATETIME type:

$date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime(str_replace('-', '/', $date)));

You haven't got to work strototime(), because it will not work with dash - separators, it will try to do a subtraction.

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Update, the way your date is formatted you can't use strtotime(), use this code instead:

$date = '02/07/2009 00:07:00';
$date = preg_replace('#(d{2})/(d{2})/(d{4})s(.*)#', '$3-$2-$1 $4', $date);
echo $date;

Output:

2009-07-02 00:07:00