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From: pbiron@weber.ucsd.edu (Paul Biron)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted,alt.sources.wanted
Subject: Wanted:C source for matching date strings
Keywords: date strings, C source
Message-ID: <2291@network.ucsd.edu>
Date: 17 Mar 90 00:28:17 GMT
Sender: nobody@network.ucsd.edu
Reply-To: pbiron@ucsd.edu (Paul Biron)
Organization: Division of Social Sciences, UCSD
Lines: 66


I have an application that needs to do validation on
dates in string form.  The format of the date string
can include any of the following :
	
                        19xx
                        xx
                        Month 19xx
                        Month, 19xx
                        Month xx
                        Month, xx
                        Month, date, 19xx
                        Month date, 19xx
                        Month, date 19xx
                        Month date xx
                        Month, date xx
                        Month date, xx
                        month_num/date/19xx
                        month_num/date/xx
                        date/month_num/19xx
                        date/month_num/xx
                        19xx/date/month_num
                        xx/date/month_num
                        19xx/month_num/date
                        xx/month_num/date
                        month_num-date-19xx
                        month_num-date-xx
                        date-month_num-19xx
                        date-month_num-xx
                        19xx-date-month_num
                        xx-date-month_num
                        19xx-month_num-date
                        xx-month_num-date
                        month_num.date.19xx
                        month_num.date.xx
                        date.month_num.19xx
                        date.month_num.xx
                        19xx.date.month_num
                        xx.date.month_num
                        19xx.month_num.date
                        xx.month_num.date
  
                      with any other chars surrounding these strings.
  
The main job is to (once it is assured that the string
is a date) to extract the *YEAR* portion.

Has anyone written such code before?  I'm sure I could do
it if I had to, but why re-invent the wheel?  Besides,
I'm not looking forward to dealing with ambiguous cases
like :
	10/12/11


Any pointers would be appreciated.
-----------------

Paul Biron     (pbiron@ucsd.edu)
Social Sciences DataBase Project
Central Univesrity Library
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, Ca.
(619) 534-5758
If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest
shopping center in the world?
		-- Richard Nixon