Why Does strtotime() Fail with dd/mm/YYYY Dates, and How Can I Fix It?

strtotime() Fails to Handle dd/mm/YYYY Format

The strtotime() function proves particularly useful for date handling. However, it lacks comprehensive documentation on supported date formats, particularly when it comes to dd/mm/YYYY. Attempts to use this format in strtotime() fail, with only the mm/dd/YYYY format being recognized.

Converting dd/mm/YYYY to YYYY-mm-dd

Explode() can be employed to solve this issue, but a simpler approach exists. To convert a dd/mm/YYYY date to YYYY-mm-dd format:

1. Replace all slashes (/) with dashes (-): $date = str_replace('/', '-', $date);
2. Use strtotime() to parse the modified date string and format it using date(): echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime($date));

Example:

$date = '25/05/2010';
$date = str_replace('/', '-', $date);
echo date('Y-m-d', strtotime($date));

Output:

2010-05-25

Note:

The strtotime() documentation clarifies: "Dates in the m/d/y or d-m-y formats are disambiguated by looking at the separator between the various components: if the separator is a slash (/), then the American m/d/y is assumed; whereas if the separator is a dash (-) or a dot (.), then the European d-m-y format is assumed."

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