use strict;
use Time::Local;

for my $date ("06/06/2009",'01/30/09') {
    my ($m,$d,$y) = $date =~ m|(\d+)/(\d+)/(\d+)|;
    my $timet = timelocal(0, 0, 0, $d, $m, $y);
    print "Date '$date' => $timet\n";
    print "localtime($timet): ", scalar localtime $timet, "\n";
}
__END__
Date '06/06/2009' => 1246831200
localtime(1246831200): Mon Jul  6 00:00:00 2009
Day '30' out of range 1..28 at .pl line 6