One thing I found helpful with PM is a simple regex that matches both a MySQL timestamp (which is a digit string) and MySQL datetime fields (which contains punctuation): 

    my( $yr, $mo, $day, $hr, $min, $sec )=
        $when =~ /(\d{4})(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)/;

[download]
PerlMonks used to have separate code for dealing with timestamps vs. datetime fields.

Then you can construct nearly any date/time object you wish from the individual values.

Update: Gah! Serves me right for not looking at the code in question. The real/working code is more like: 

    my( $cc, $yr, $mo, $day, $hr, $min, $sec )=
        $when =~ /(\d\d)/g;
    $yr += $cc*100;

[download]
Sorry!

                - tye

In reply to Re: Converting MySQL datetime values to DateTime objects (regex) by tye
in thread Converting MySQL datetime values to DateTime objects by jonadab

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