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If a date is submitted by form in following format, $month=2, $day=31, $year= 2010. How can i verify using PHP date function if it is valid date or not? Thanks.

adam
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  • Are dates being entered via **text input** fields or **drop down menus**? Usually, for anything date wise, I would recommend **drop down menus** as that can be a very easy and simplistic way of date verification and validation. – Eli Feb 12 '11 at 15:38
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    @Eli How so? Anyone can edit values in a drop down menu using firebug or chrome inspector. You should _always_ validate data coming from a browser. – Samuel Apr 26 '12 at 19:37
  • Sorry, I should have been more clear. Duel validation is always best. (HTML/JavaScript/etc) for on page pre-submission validation and verification of date formatting for the normal user and then server side validation for sanitation before processing. – Eli Apr 27 '12 at 00:26

5 Answers5

13

http://php.net/manual/en/function.checkdate.php

The checkdate function is the first result in google from the search "php validate date"

In your case, the usage would be:

checkdate($month, $day, $year);
Jonno_FTW
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    Thanks for posting your answer! Please note that you should post the essential parts of the answer here, on this site, or your post risks being deleted See the FAQ where it mentions answers that are 'barely more than a link'. You may still include the link if you wish, but only as a 'reference'. The answer should stand on its own without needing the link. – Andrew Atkinson Jul 30 '13 at 14:31
4
<?php
function validateDate($date, $format = 'Y-m-d H:i:s'){
    $d = DateTime::createFromFormat($format, $date);
    return $d && $d->format($format) == $date;
}
?>

var_dump(validateDate('2012-02-28 12:12:12')); # true
var_dump(validateDate('2012-02-30 12:12:12')); # false
var_dump(validateDate('2012-02-28', 'Y-m-d')); # true
var_dump(validateDate('28/02/2012', 'd/m/Y')); # true
var_dump(validateDate('30/02/2012', 'd/m/Y')); # false

function was copied from this answer or php.net

Community
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ahmeti
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2

Try checkdate() http://php.net/manual/en/function.checkdate.php

checkdate($month, $day, $year);

returns true if date is valid / false otherwise

TuK
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1
bool checkdate ( int $month , int $day , int $year )
Gustavo Costa De Oliveira
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0

Here's what I've come up with to combine the strictness of checkdate() with the convenience of DateTime (It converts entries like 'next thursday' or '2 weeks ago')

If the input string is invalid, it returns false. Empty dates are returned as null, and non-empty dates are formatted MySQL style 'Y-m-d'.

/**
 * @return variant null for empty date, mysql date string for valid date, or false for invalid date string
 */
function myCheckDate($date)
{
    $result=false;
    if($date=='')
    {
        $result=null;
    }
    else
    {
        //Best of both worlds
        // - flexibility of DateTime (next thursday, 2 weeks ago, etc)
        // - strictness of checkdate (2000-02-31 is not allowed)
        $m=false;
        $d=false;
        $y=false;
        $parts=date_parse($date);
        if($parts!==false)
        {
            $m=$parts['month'];
            $d=$parts['day'];
            $y=$parts['year'];
        }
        if($m!==false && $d!==false)
        {
            if($y===false) $y=date('Y'); //Default to this year
            //Try for a specific date - this catches bad entries like 'feb 31, 2000'
            if(checkdate($m,$d,$y)) $result=sprintf('%04d-%02d-%02d',$y,$m,$d);
        }
        else
        {
            //Try for something more generic - this allows entries like 'next thursday'
            $dt=false;
            try{ $dt=new \DateTime($date); }catch(\Exception $e){ $dt=false; }
            if($dt!==false) $result=$dt->format('Y-m-d');
        }
    }
    return $result;
}
Jon Hulka
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