Why not simply have the function return the modified date and assign it back to the variable you have passed? 

sub TimeStamp($) # Pass the stamp in as YYYYMMDD
{
  local $_=$_[0];
  if( /(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})/ )
  {  #returns in MMDDYYYY
        "$2/$3/$1";
  }
  else { warn "Invalid input to TimeStamp()" }
}

[download]

and call it thusly 

$date_created = TimeStamp($date_created);

[download]

You can even use this in places like if statements. 

if ( $date_created = TimeStamp($date_created) eq 'somedate' ) {
    # do something special.
}

[download]

Also, I noticed that you are using a prototype, you might want to read this thread for reasons why you shouldn't be using them unless you have very specific reasons for doing so.

Nah! Your thinking of Simon Templar, originally played by Roger Moore and later by Ian Ogilvy

In reply to Re: Dynamically changing the value of a passed variable into a sub by BrowserUk
in thread Dynamically changing the value of a passed variable into a sub by Willman023

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