How to convert date to timestamp in PHP?

Question

How do I get timestamp from e.g. 22-09-2008?

Answer 1

If you want to know for sure whether a date gets parsed into something you expect, you can use DateTime::createFromFormat():

$d = DateTime::createFromFormat('d-m-Y', '22-09-2008');
if ($d === false) {
    die("Woah, that date doesn't look right!");
}
echo $d->format('Y-m-d'), PHP_EOL;
// prints 2008-09-22

It's obvious in this case, but e.g. 03-04-2008 could be 3rd of April or 4th of March depending on where you come from :)