README

The library provides extended functionality for working with dates.

• converting date rows "The 13th of Mar. 1999", "Mar. 2022" to objects.
• converting date rows in different languages "8 März 2023"
• converting date intervals "13th of Mar. 1999 - 8 März 2023"
• converting date sequences "The 12th of April 2022; 8 März 2023"
• search dates in a text in your language...

The library solves all these problems.

Versions

• There is code for php8.1 in the master branch (tags 1.0.*)
• There is code for php8.0 in the master-php8.0 branch (tags 1.1.*)

Configuration

Create ArrayPatternStorage.
The object takes config array of a strictly defined format:

• The patterns field should contain regular expressions for dates.
• The months field should contain regular expressions for months. There should be exactly 12 of them.

<?php

$patternStorage = new ArrayPatternStorage([
    'patterns' => [
        '($day)th ($month) ($year)',
        'The ($day)th of ($month) ($year)',
    ],
    'months' => [
        1 => ["January", "Jan\."],
        2 => ["February", "Febr\."],
        3 => ["March", "Mar\."],
        4 => ["April"],
        5 => ["May"],
        6 => ["June"],
        7 => ["July"],
        8 => ["August"],
        9 => ["September"],
        10 => ["October"],
        11 => ["November"],
        12 => ["December"]
    ],
]);

The library automatically substitutes regular expressions: $day = [0-9]{1,2}, $year = [0-9]{4}, $month = January|Jan\.|February|....

Convertation

All possible examples of using the library are in the examples folder.
For example, in ./examples/simple_date/test.php the simple convertation is described:

/** $patternStorage defined above */
$patternStorage = ...

$converter = new RowToModelConverter($patternStorage);
$converter->convertToDate("12th February 2022");

The convertToDate method will return a DateModel object since the string "12th February 2022" matches the first pattern in configuration file.
If you pass a string that does not match any of the patterns, then an Exception will be thrown.
The order of the patterns in the configuration is important because the convertToDate method returns a DateModel based on the first matching pattern!

Advanced options

Interval convertation: interval-convertation
Sequence convertation: secuence-convertation
Multiple pattern storages: multiple-storages

Search

The library provides two search strategies:

• search with replacement
• search with repetitions

Examples of using search are described in the folder examples/search. Next, let's explain the differences.
Let the input row be given:
It was sunny outside on the 12th of April 2022, 13 April 2022 and the 17th of April 2021

Search with replacement

• find all dates for the input corresponding to the first pattern, replace with $pattern_1, save the transformed row:
  It was sunny outside on $pattern_1, 13 April 2022 and $pattern_1.
  The dates for pattern 1 are stored in the TextAllPatternMatches model.
• In the transformed row (with $pattern_1) we find the dates for the pattern 2, replace it with $pattern_2, save the transformed row:
  It was sunny outside on $pattern_1, $pattern_2 and $pattern_1.
  The dates for pattern 2 are stored in the TextAllPatternMatches model.
• etc...

For this strategy, the order of the patterns in the configuration is important!

Search with repetitions

• find all dates for the input corresponding to the first pattern, replace with $pattern_1, save the transformed row:
  It was sunny outside on $pattern_1, 13 April 2022 and $pattern_1.
  The dates for pattern 1 are stored in the TextPattern model.
• again we take the input row and find the dates corresponding to pattern 2, replace it with $pattern_2, save string:
  It was sunny outside on the 12th of April 2022, $pattern_2 and the 17th of April 2021,
  The dates for pattern 2 are stored in the TextPattern model.
• etc...

Thus the TextPatternSequence is fill with the TextPattern models. The order is not important for this strategy.

Advanced options

Interval search: interval-search