# In the database, this is the "0" date.
return undef if $date =~ /^0000/;
- # strptime($date) returns an empty array if $date has an invalid
- # date format.
- my @time = strptime($date);
+ my @time;
+ # Most dates will be in this format, avoid strptime's generic parser
+ if ($date =~ /^(\d{4})[\.-](\d{2})[\.-](\d{2})(?: (\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2}))?$/) {
+ @time = ($6, $5, $4, $3, $2 - 1, $1 - 1900, undef);
+ }
+ else {
+ @time = strptime($date);
+ }
unless (scalar @time) {
# If an unknown timezone is passed (such as MSK, for Moskow),