<?php function test_parse_time($f) { if (preg_match("/[0-9]{12}/", $f)) { $type = "YYYYMMDDHHii"; } else if (preg_match("/[0-9]{8}\ [0-9]{4}/", $f)) { $type = "YYYYMMDD HHii"; } else if (preg_match("/[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}/", $f)) { $type = "YYYY-MM-DD"; } else { $type = "*unknown*"; } echo "This is a $type format.\n"; } $formats = array('2004-08-17 21:20', '20040817 2120'); foreach ($formats as $format) { test_parse_time($format); } ?>