String to Date and Date to String Functions?

Being trying to work out haw to handle dates. Basically I need a function to convert a Date to a String and another function to convert a string to a date. Exactly what format the date is held in is not relevant as long as it is some type of standard (i.e. Unix Timestamps). Both the functions will require a format string (such ad DD/MM/YYY) and again the format/syntax of this is irrelevant, as long as they are the same for both . String to Date Function ---------------------------- return date stringToDate( str Date, str Format ) e.g. $todayDt = stringToDate( '01/01/2003','DD/MM/YYYY' ); Date to String Function ---------------------------- return str dateToString( date Date, str Format ) e.g. $todayStr = dateToString ( $todayDt,'DD/MM/YYYY' ); Anyone know of any functions that do this or have pointers as to how it can be done. Ben -- Ben Edwards - Poole, UK, England WARNING:This email contained partisan views - dont ever accuse me of using the veneer of objectivity If you have a problem emailing me use http://www.gurtlush.org.uk/profiles.php?uid=4 (email address this email is sent from may be defunct)