> Thanks Lars > > I saw that one already but unfortunately, it doesn't help as it > requires 3 inputs . What I'm shooting for is an 'is_date' function > that returns true or false with no prior knowledge of what a variable > might contain. > > Ken > > On Jul 25, 2007, at 10:08 AM, Lars Haßler wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > there is a function to check a valid date: http://de3.php.net/ > > manual/de/function.checkdate.php > > > > may help > >> Hi > >> > >> I wrote a serialization function to turn arbitrary PHP variables > >> into Macintosh plist compatible XML but see that there is no > >> "is_date" tester as there is for bool, object, array etc. Is there > >> a relatively simple (and robust) way to detect if a variable is a > >> date? For example: > >> > >> $person = array('name'=>'bob', 'sex'=>'male', 'date_of_birth'=> > >> $someDateHere); > >> > >> Thanks for any help > >> > >> Ken > >> You won't find one. This is because PHP does not have a native type for dates.. If you have a string e.g. 23-Mar-1985, you can use regexp to match or extract the various parts. You could then use the checkdate function to ensure it is a valid date (e.g. not 31st Feb or similar). Edward PS: Please don't top post on mailing lists. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php