Convert uncommon date format to timestamp in most efficient manner possible?

Question

I have a date in this format: 20101101120000

I need to convert it to a timestamp with PHP.

I\'ve been searching the PHP docs online, but can\'t find anything

Answer 1

strtotime('20101101120000')

....

Answer 2

You can do this with DateTime::createFromFormat:

$d = DateTime::createFromFormat('YmdGis', '20101101120000');

$d is now a DateTime instance. You can either convert it to a timestamp with $d->getTimestamp() or use the DateTime methods on it.

Note that this requires PHP 5.3.

Answer 3

I only add to this resolved question because this may be helpful for users who stumble upon here (like I did) and are looking to get an actual datetime timestamp.

My assumption for most folks when they mention timestamp is that they're looking for a normal "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" timestamp not a unix timestamp which you get when you use the getTimestamp() method (see accepted answer if you are indeed looking for the UNIX Timestamp).

So I will further elaborate on lonesomeday's answer (which is fully correct) for those looking to actually get a valid formated date that they can display to users or insert into their database:

$d = DateTime::createFromFormat('YmdGis', '20101101120000');

$formatedDate = $d->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); // will return 2010-11-01 12:00:00
$formatedDate = $d->format('m-d-Y h:i A'); // will return 11-01-2010 12:00 PM 

Answer 4

You need the function strptime.

The formats are described at strftime.