验证输入是YYYY-MM-DD HH：mm：ss格式？

Question

I'm writing a PHP script that takes in a user entered value that MUST be something like this.

2011-06-17 00:00:00
...
2011-06-17 23:59:59

How do I verify that it is indeed a correct input?

Answer 1

Alternatively, use strtotime() on the input, and then date() to put it in your required format. This has the advantage of validating that the user provided a correct date, not just a correct format. I.e., a regex check won't catch when somebody puts in Feb 31.

$date = strtotime($input);
if ($date === false) {
    throw Exception('bad date');
}
$formatted = date('<whatever>', $date);