I have a database that I need to massage the format of some dates. After sifting through numerous postings I believe I've finally figured out the bulk of the code I need.

The data looks like this: 

26047|9/26/02|js|XBRV|893 Ronson Road||San Francisco|CA|96666|Matt|666
+-650-5114|matt@somewhere.com|710464|1|9/27/02|9/27/02|warranty|Yes|
26048|9/26/02|js|BEVT|13 West Kennedy Blvd.||Yourtown|FL|33456|Christi
+an Carusso|713-867-1515||Tel-14|1|||non warranty ``cross ref: 26048||
26049|9/26/02|js|Ultimate Products|1 South Sunset Drive||Tempe|AZ|8333
+1|Mike Goose|700-676-6006|goose@nowhere.com|RS-502,CC-95|1 each|||S/N
+ A145902||

[download]

What I need to do is change the format of the dates (if they exist) in fields 1, 14, & 15 from the current 9/26/02 format to 26-Sep-2002 format. Thanks to a posting by davorg I think I have a handle on how to do the conversions.

Where I am having a problem is testing if the date fields has data in it (I think): 

Use of uninitialized value in numeric gt (>) at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/T
+ime/Local.pm line 91, <IN> line 1.
Use of uninitialized value in numeric lt (<) at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/T
+ime/Local.pm line 91, <IN> line 1.
Use of uninitialized value in numeric gt (>) at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/T
+ime/Local.pm line 92, <IN> line 1.
Use of uninitialized value in numeric lt (<) at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/T
+ime/Local.pm line 92, <IN> line 1.
Use of uninitialized value in join or string at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/T
+ime/Local.pm line 103, <IN> line 1.
Use of uninitialized value in join or string at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6.1/T
+ime/Local.pm line 103, <IN> line 1.
Can't handle date (0, , , 7, 8, -1899) at ./convertdates.pl line 27

[download]

Any pointers are appreciated! 

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Time::Local;

my $in_file="default.db";
my $out_file="properdates.db";

my ($sec, $min, $hr)=0;
my @fmt_date='';
my @new='';

open (IN,"$in_file")||die "Sorry, but I can't open the file:$!";
open (OUT,">$out_file")||die "Sorry, but I can't append the file:$!";

while(<IN>){
  chomp;
  my @line=split(/\|/);
  my @date=(split/\|/)[1,14,15];
  
  foreach my $i (@date){
    if ($i){
    #my ($d, $m, $y)=split/\//, $date[$i];
    my ($d, $m, $y)=split/\//, $i;
    $y-=1900;
    --$m;
    my $epoch=timelocal($sec, $min, $hr, $d, $m, $y);
    ($fmt_date[$i])=strftime('%d-%b-%Y', localtime($epoch)); 
    }  #end if
  } #end foreach

  push @new, qq($line[0]|$fmt_date[0]|$line[2]|$line[3]|$line[4]|$line
+[5]|$line[6]|$line[7]|$line[8]|$line[9]|$line[10]|$line[11]|$line[12]
+|$line[13]|$fmt_date[1]|$fmt_date[2]|$line[16]|$line[17]|$line[18]);
  push @new, "\n";

} #end while

print OUT "@new";

close IN;
close OUT;

[download]

Edited by footpad, ~ Sat Sep 28 02:01:00 2002 (UTC) : Placed <code> tags around error messages, per Consideration.

In reply to Formatting dates by cajun

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