$startDate = 5 / 27 / 1999
?php $patterns = array ("/ (19_BAR_20)(\d{2}) -(\d{1,2}) -(\d{1,2}) /", "/ ^\s*{(\w+)}\s*= / "); $replace = array ("\\3 / \\4 / \\1\\2", "$\\1 ="); print preg_replace ($patterns, $replace, "{startDate} = 1999-5-27");?