function smarty_make_timestamp($string){ if(empty($string)) { // use "now": $time = time(); } elseif (preg_match('/^\d{14}$/', $string)) { // it is mysql timestamp format of YYYYMMDDHHMMSS? $time = mktime(substr($string, 8, 2),substr($string, 10, 2),substr($string, 12, 2), substr($string, 4, 2),substr($string, 6, 2),substr($string, 0, 4)); } elseif (is_numeric($string)) { // it is a numeric string, we handle it as timestamp $time = (int)$string; } else { // strtotime should handle it $time = strtotime($string); if ($time == -1 || $time === false) { // strtotime() was not able to parse $string, use "now": $time = time(); } } return $time;}