datetime - php strtotime() function returns blank/0 -

i have datetime data in string format this:

sat mar 24 23:59:59 gmt 2012 

i want convert utc timestamp, when try follows:

function texttotime($texttime) {     if(!$texttime || $texttime=="")         return null;      // sat mar 24 23:59:59 gmt 2012     $bits = preg_split('/\s/', $texttime);      //                  mar     24      2012    23:59:59    gmt     return strtotime("$bits[1] $bits[2] $bits[5] $bits[3] bits[4]"); } 

it outputs 0 (not null).

if change last line to:

    //                  mar     24      2012    23:59:59     return strtotime("$bits[1] $bits[2] $bits[5] $bits[3]"); 

it outputs (but wrong timestamp, off -4 hours or so).

not quite sure why you're re-organising existing string, as...

echo $timestamp = strtotime('sat mar 24 23:59:59 gmt 2012');  

...works correctly. (it returns 1332633599, can check via date('r', 1332633599); (this result in "sat, 24 mar 2012 23:59:59 +0000", well.)

that said, if you're going extract of components of string, might use mktime. example:

function texttotime($texttime) {     if(!$texttime || $texttime=="") return null;      list($junk, $month, $day, $time, $timezone, $year) = explode(' ', $texttime);     list($hour, $minute, $second) = explode(':', $time);      return mktime($hour, $minute, $second, $month, $day, $year); }