my $times = $ARGV[1];
my ($start_time, $end_time) = ( $times =~ /^(\d{6})-(\d{6})$/ ) or die "Time values are not in correct form\n";

my $dates = $ARGV[2] ||
    strftime ("%y%m%d", localtime); # make sure to use POSIX qw(strftime);

my $start_date, $end_date;
if ( ! (($start_date, $end_date) = ( $dates =~ /^(\d{6})-(\d{6})$/ ) ) ) {
   ( $start_date ) = ( $dates =~ /^(\d{6})$/ ) or die "Date values not in correct form";
   $end_date = $start_date;
}