to read date formats as follows - Apr 8 1984, Apr 08 84, 4/8/84, 04/08/84, and 08 Apr 1984

• Take a close look at these date formats, what are the differences and what is similar? Each date format consists of three parts, separated either by space or by '/'. Take a look at split.
• The year is always the last field, so that's easy. Just make sure that you add 1900 to it whenever it's necessary.
• The month comes either as an abbreviation containing letters or as a number. Check which is true and act accordingly. For the mapping from 'Apr' to 4, a hash is ideal. For the output in a different format you probably need the reverse mapping.
• Write one subroutine for reading in the date and return it in a standard format, e.g. three numbers for year (4 digit), month and day. Maybe add some date validation for extra credits :).
• Then write conversions from this 'standard' format into all necessary output formats. See sprintf.
• At last, when you are finished or get stuck, let us know what you have, I'm sure we can give a few more valulabe tips.