strtotime return false while converting date string

Question

Using php 5.4.34 And Laravel 4 with apache 2.2.22 and Ubuntu.

I try to convert the string '2050-10-13' to a date and it always return false.

var_dump(strtotime('2050-10-13')); ==> false
var_dump(strtotime('13-10-2050')); ==> false
var_dump(strtotime('2050/10/13')); ==> false
var_dump(strtotime('13/10/2050')); ==> false

I tried to add before :

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Brussels');

OR

date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Paris');

I doesn't change anything.

in app/config/app.php I have :

'timezone' => 'UTC',
'locale' => 'en',

What could be the problem ??

cf the manual, in particular, the second note 32bit vs 64bit systems and the valid time ranges — Elias Van Ootegem
– Elias Van Ootegem, Commented Nov 13, 2014 at 12:48

dynamic · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-13 13:00:37Z

4

2050 cannot be represented internally on 32 bit systems.
Timestamp have a limit to 2038 because the max value for a 32-bit integer is 2,147,483,647, that is: 2038-01-19T03:14:08+0000Z

You have just experienced the year2038 bug.

How to fix

Don't use timestamp. Instead use a more robust library such as new \DateTime('2050-10-13'); and of course on your Database use Date field.

edited Nov 13, 2014 at 13:00

answered Nov 13, 2014 at 12:42

dynamic

48.2k56 gold badges163 silver badges236 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Elias Van Ootegem Over a year ago

2050 can be represented internally, provided you're on a 64bit system

Elias Van Ootegem Over a year ago

@dynamic: a long of 4 bytes, you mean... PHP integers are represented internally by the C type long :-P (pedantic, I know)

dynamic Over a year ago

That's right, but Integer (in english speaking) include long :)

Ivan Yonkov Over a year ago

var_dump(strtotime('13-10-1999')); => int 939762000

Elias Van Ootegem Over a year ago

@BastienSander: check the default format for the timezone you're using: is it m-d-Y or d-m-Y, in the first case: 13 is not a valid month

DannyTheDev · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-13 13:03:01Z

2

The problem is that you are using a function that cannot cope with dates so far in the future on a 32 bit system.

Use DateTime instead it will cope quite happily with such dates:-

$date = new \DateTime('2050-10-13');
var_dump($date);

Demo

edited Nov 13, 2014 at 13:03

DannyTheDev

4,1732 gold badges24 silver badges36 bronze badges

answered Nov 13, 2014 at 12:48

vascowhite

18.5k9 gold badges64 silver badges79 bronze badges

1 Comment

Elias Van Ootegem Over a year ago

And this answers the "What could be the problem" question how, exactly?

Manish Shrivastava · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-13 12:48:03Z

1

Adding answer into dynamic answer. Timestamp have a limit to 2038 because The maximum value of a 32-bit integer is 2,147,483,647. If you add +1 to that, you get -2,147,483,647. 2,147,483,647 seconds from 01-01-1970 00:00:00 is January 19, 2038. If you add one more second, you get a date somewhere in 1902.

Hard luck this time.

answered Nov 13, 2014 at 12:48

Manish Shrivastava

32.2k13 gold badges103 silver badges103 bronze badges

1 Comment

Elias Van Ootegem Over a year ago

Again, pedantic, but technically: signed integer overflow results in undefined behavior, so in theory, anything could happen. 99% of the time, INT_MAX + 1 == INT_MIN. In theory however, a segfault or an LPT0 printer on fire error is just as likely

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

strtotime return false while converting date string

3 Answers 3

How to fix

5 Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

How to fix

5 Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related