How to convert an input string into strtotime in laravel
Stefan Bogdanescu
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
# Mastering Date Conversion in Laravel: From String Input to Unix Timestamp
Dealing with dates and times is one of the most frequent pain points in web development. When handling user input from forms—especially when dealing with custom date pickers like jQuery calendar—the challenge often lies in reliably converting a string format (like `DD-MM-YYYY`) into a standardized, machine-readable format, such as a Unix timestamp (an integer).
As senior developers working within the Laravel ecosystem, we rely heavily on powerful tools to manage this complexity. This guide will walk you through the most robust and idiomatic ways to convert your input string into an appropriate timestamp for storage in your database, focusing on best practices using PHP and Laravel's features.
## The Challenge: Input Format vs. Database Storage
You are encountering a common scenario: receiving a date formatted as `09-03-2018` from the form, and needing to store it in an integer column (`valid_from`, `valid_to`) in your database. Storing dates as Unix timestamps (the number of seconds since January 1, 1970) is highly efficient for database indexing and comparison.
The core problem is ensuring that whatever format the front-end sends, PHP can reliably interpret it correctly. While `strtotime()` is a native PHP function capable of this task, relying solely on it can lead to brittle code if the input formats vary slightly or if you need complex timezone handling.
## Method 1: Direct Conversion in the Controller (The Quick Fix)
For simple, one-off conversions, performing the conversion directly in your controller method is straightforward. You can use PHP's built-in `strtotime()` function to handle the string parsing.
In your controller, you would perform the conversion immediately after receiving the request data:
```php
public function store(PromotionRequest $request)
{
$input = $request->all();
$date_string = $request->valid_from; // e.g., "09-03-2018"
$date1_string = $request->valid_to; // e.g., "15-03-2018"
// Convert the string to Unix timestamps (integers)
$newDate = strtotime($date_string);
$newDate1 = strtotime($date1_string);
// Store these integers in the database
Promotion::create($input, $newDate, $newDate1);
return redirect('admin/promotion');
}
```
**Why this approach is okay:** It’s fast and directly solves the immediate need.
**The limitation:** This logic pollutes your controller with business logic. If you reuse this conversion elsewhere, or if you need complex date manipulation (like timezone adjustments), handling it in the model layer is much cleaner.
## Method 2: The Laravel Way – Using Model Mutators and Carbon (Best Practice)
The most robust solution in a Laravel application is to delegate data transformation responsibility to the Eloquent Model itself. This adheres to the principle of separation of concerns, making your model responsible for how its data is stored, not the controller. Furthermore, leveraging the **Carbon** library—Laravel’s powerful extension for working with dates and times—is highly recommended over raw PHP functions.
### Step 1: Install Carbon (If you haven't already)
Ensure you have Carbon installed in your project:
```bash
composer require nesbot/carbon
```
### Step 2: Implement Mutators in the Model
Mutators are methods within your Eloquent model that automatically transform an attribute value before it is saved to the database or retrieved from it. We will use them to convert the incoming string into a Unix timestamp (integer).
In your `Promotion` model, define mutators for `valid_from` and `valid_to`:
```php
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Casts\Attribute;
use Carbon\Carbon;
class Promotion extends Model
{
// ... other model code
/**
* Mutator for valid_from: Converts the input string to a Unix timestamp.
*/
protected function validFrom(): Attribute
{
return Attribute::make(
get: fn ($value) => $value ? Carbon::parse($value)->timestamp : null
);
}
/**
* Mutator for valid_to: Converts the input string to a Unix timestamp.
*/
protected function validTo(): Attribute
{
return Attribute::make(
get: fn ($value) => $value ? Carbon::parse($value)->timestamp : null
);
}
}
```
**Explanation of the Mutator:**
1. We use Laravel's newer `Attribute` class for defining accessors/mutators, which is cleaner than older methods.
2. The logic inside the `get` closure takes the raw string input (`$value`).
3. We use `Carbon::parse($value)` to safely convert the incoming date string (assuming a format Carbon can handle) into a Carbon object.
4. Finally, calling `->timestamp` extracts the desired Unix integer value for storage in your `integer` database columns.
### Step 3: Update Migration Structure
Since you are storing timestamps as integers, ensure your migration defines them as `integer`:
```php
// In your migration file (e.g., create_promotions_table)
$table->integer('valid_from');
$table->integer('valid_to');
```
## Conclusion: Embracing Eloquent for Data Integrity
Converting input strings to database timestamps is a foundational task in data persistence. While the simple `strtotime()` function works, it is best practice in Laravel to leverage the power of **Carbon** and Eloquent Mutators. This approach ensures that your model enforces data integrity regardless of where the data originates, making your application cleaner, more maintainable, and highly scalable. By centralizing this logic within the model, you ensure that every time you interact with a `Promotion` record, the dates are always handled as standardized Unix timestamps. Remember, good architectural choices make all the difference in building robust applications on **laravelcompany.com**.