m!^[0-9]{4}[/\-.][0-9]{1,2}[/\-.][0-9]{1,2}$#!

##</code><code>##

m/^\d{4}[\/\-.](1[0-2])|0?[1-9])[\/\-.]([012]?[0-9]|3[01]$/<p>

##</code><code>##

($year, $month, $day) = split(/[.\-\/]/, $date, 3);