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PHP CRUD Operations with PHP Creating Records Validating User Data

Posted by Matthew Lawson
Matthew Lawson
17,297 Points

Validating Date stuck

I could use some help. I'm trying to prove it true...but the message I keep getting is that checkdate returns true if valid. So I don't know what's wrong. Does the date format given in the challenge dictate the order that I check the string lengths or do I have to do it in a particular order?

index.php 
<?php

function valid_sql_date($date) {
    //add code here
   $dateMatch = explode('-',$date);
  if(count($dateMatch) !== 3
    && strlen($dateMatch[0]) == 2
    && strlen($dateMatch[1]) == 2
    && strlen($dateMatch[2]) == 4
    && checkdate($dateMatch[0], $dateMatch[1], $dateMatch[2])) {
    return true;
    } else {
    return false;
  }
}

3 Answers

Eric Drake
Eric Drake
6,339 Points

Matthew,

I think the issue may lay with the first part of your condition statement. In essence, you are stating that the number of items in $dateMatch cannot be identical to the number three. An SQL date is made up of three parts, YYYY-MM-DD. The index, $dateMatch[0], will correspond with the four-digit year. The next index, $dateMatch[1], will correspond with the two-digit month. The last index, $dateMatch[2], will correspond to the two-digit day.

I would suggest revising your condition statement to read as follows:

if (count($dateMatch) == 3 && strlen($dateMatch[0]) == 4 && strlen($dateMatch[1]) == 2 && strlen($dateMatch[2]) == 2 && checkdate($dateMatch[1], $dateMatch[2], $dateMatch[0])) { return true; } else { return false; }

Matthew Lawson
Matthew Lawson
17,297 Points
Matthew Lawson
Matthew Lawson
17,297 Points

Thank you Eric! To make sure I'm on the right track- the count is counting the PARTS of the date and not the characters- correct?

Eric Drake
Eric Drake
6,339 Points

The function, count, returns the number of elements in an array. In this case, your explode function would return three elements: one for the year, one for the month, and one for the day.

Matthew Lawson
Matthew Lawson
17,297 Points
Matthew Lawson
Matthew Lawson
17,297 Points

got it. thanks, again!