Time::ParseDate -- date parsing both relative and absolute use Time::ParseDate; $seconds_since_jan1_1970 = parsedate("12/11/94 2pm", NO_RELATIVE => 1) $seconds_since_jan1_1970 = parsedate("12/11/94 2pm", %options) Date parsing can also use options. The options are as follows: FUZZY -> it's okay not to parse the entire date string NOW -> the "current" time for relative times (defaults to time()) ZONE -> local timezone (defaults to $ENV{TZ}) WHOLE -> the whole input string must be parsed GMT -> input time is assumed to be GMT, not localtime UK -> prefer UK style dates (dd/mm over mm/dd) DATE_REQUIRED -> do not default the date TIME_REQUIRED -> do not default the time NO_RELATIVE -> input time is not relative to NOW TIMEFIRST -> try parsing time before date [not default] PREFER_PAST -> when year or day of week is ambigueous, assume past PREFER_FUTURE -> when year or day of week is ambigueous, assume future SUBSECOND -> parse fraction seconds VALIDATE -> only accept normal values for HHMMSS, YYMMDD. Otherwise days like -1 might give the last day of the previous month.

Absolute date formats
Dow, dd Mon yy Dow, dd Mon yyyy Dow, dd Mon dd Mon yy dd Mon yyyy Month day{st,nd,rd,th}, year Month day{st,nd,rd,th} Mon dd yyyy yyyy/mm/dd yyyy/mm mm/dd/yy mm/dd/yyyy mm/yy yy/mm (only if year > 12, or > 31 if UK) yy/mm/dd (only if year > 12 and day < 32, or year > 31 if UK) dd/mm/yy (only if UK, or an invalid mm/dd/yy or yy/mm/dd) dd/mm/yyyy (only if UK, or an invalid mm/dd/yyyy) dd/mm (only if UK, or an invalid mm/dd)

Relative date formats:
count "days" count "weeks" count "months" count "years" Dow "after next" Dow (requires PREFER_PAST or PREFER_FUTURE) "next" Dow "tomorrow" "today" "yesterday" "last" dow "last week" "now" "now" "+" count units "now" "-" count units "+" count units "-" count units count units "ago"

Absolute time formats:
hh:mm:ss[.ddd] hh:mm hh:mm[AP]M hh[AP]M hhmmss[[AP]M] "noon" "midnight"

Relative time formats:
count "minutes" count "seconds" count "hours" "+" count units "+" count "-" count units "-" count count units "ago"

Timezone formats:
[+-]dddd GMT[+-]d+ [+-]dddd (TZN) TZN

Special formats:
[ d]d/Mon/yyyy:hh:mm:ss [[+-]dddd] yy/mm/dd.hh:mm This module recognizes the above date/time formats. Usually a date and a time are specified. There are numerous options for controlling what is recognized and what is not. The return code is always the time in seconds since January 1st, 1970 or undef if it was unable to parse the time. If a timezone is specified it must be after the time. Year specifications can be tacked onto the end of absolute times. If "parsedate()" is called from array context, then it will return two elements. On sucessful parses, it will return the seconds and what remains of its input string. On unsucessful parses, it will return "undef" and an error string. $seconds = parsedate("Mon Jan 2 04:24:27 1995"); $seconds = parsedate("Tue Apr 4 00:22:12 PDT 1995"); $seconds = parsedate("04.04.95 00:22", ZONE => PDT); $seconds = parsedate("Jan 1 1999 11:23:34.578", SUBSECOND => 1); $seconds = parsedate("122212 950404", ZONE => PDT, TIMEFIRST => 1); $seconds = parsedate("+3 secs", NOW => 796978800); $seconds = parsedate("2 months", NOW => 796720932); $seconds = parsedate("last Tuesday"); ($seconds, $remaining) = parsedate("today is the day"); ($seconds, $error) = parsedate("today is", WHOLE=>1); David Muir Sharnoff <muir@idiom.com>. Copyright (C) 1996-1999 David Muir Sharnoff. License hereby granted for anyone to use, modify or redistribute this module at their own risk. Please feed useful changes back to muir@idiom.com.