my $date = '2/3/1906';
my $new_date = sprintf("%04d-%02d-%02d 00:00:00",(split /\//, $date)[2,1,0]);

# $new_date is "1906-03-02 00:00:00"

##</code><code>##

my $new_date = sprintf("%04d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:00",(split /\D+/, $date)[2,1,0,3,4]);