✅ Strict Date Parsing

Tips

toTimestamp() keeps its existing flexible parsing for natural language, relative times, and different date formats. Use parseExact() and isValidDate() when validating form input or requiring a specific format.

parseExact()

Parse a date using an exact format

Parameters

Parameter	Introduction	Require
datetime	Date string to parse	Required
format	PHP date format, such as Y-m-d, d/m/Y, or Y-m-d H:i:s	Optional, default is Y-m-d H:i:s
timezone	Time zone used for parsing	Optional, defaults to the current PHP default time zone

Return Values

Returns a Unix timestamp in seconds. Invalid dates, formats, or time zones throw InvalidArgumentException.

Example code

use zjkal\TimeHelper;

/* Parse a valid leap day */
TimeHelper::parseExact('2024-02-29', 'Y-m-d');

/* Resolve ambiguous date formats explicitly */
TimeHelper::parseExact('03/04/2026', 'd/m/Y'); // April 3, 2026
TimeHelper::parseExact('03/04/2026', 'm/d/Y'); // March 4, 2026

/* Use the default format */
TimeHelper::parseExact('2026-10-27 12:30:00');

/* Parse the Unix epoch in UTC */
TimeHelper::parseExact('1970-01-01 00:00:00', 'Y-m-d H:i:s', 'UTC'); // 0

Parsing rules

• Input must exactly match the output of the specified format. For example, Y-m-d does not accept 2026-2-01.
• Invalid dates, overflowing time fields, extra characters, null bytes, and empty formats are rejected. February 31 is not automatically adjusted to March.
• Unspecified fields start from 1970-01-01 00:00:00. A date without a time uses midnight; a year and month without a day use the first day of that month.
• An explicit time zone does not change the global default. If the input itself specifies a time zone offset, that offset takes precedence.
• Use round-trip output formats. Do not use parsing-only controls such as !, |, +, or *.
• Nonexistent local times during a daylight saving transition are rejected. For local times that occur twice, include an explicit time zone offset in the input.

isValidDate()

Check if a date matches the specified format

Parameters

Parameter	Introduction	Require
datetime	Date string to validate	Required
format	PHP date format	Optional, default is Y-m-d
timezone	Time zone used for validation	Optional, defaults to the current PHP default time zone

Return Values

Returns true if the date matches the format, otherwise false. Invalid dates, formats, or time zones return false.

The same parsing rules as parseExact() apply.

Example code

TimeHelper::isValidDate('2024-02-29'); // true
TimeHelper::isValidDate('2026-02-29'); // false, not a leap year
TimeHelper::isValidDate('2026-02-31'); // false, no automatic date adjustment
TimeHelper::isValidDate('2026-01-01 24:00:00', 'Y-m-d H:i:s'); // false

Info

The default formats differ: parseExact() uses Y-m-d H:i:s, while isValidDate() uses Y-m-d.