- var_dump: documentation ( source)
- sscanf: documentation ( source)
<?php
$dt = '2011-12-17 09:30:56';
var_dump(
sscanf($dt, '%04s-%02s-%02s %02s:%02s:%02s'),
sscanf($dt, '%[^-]-%[^-]-%s %[^:]:%[^:]:%s'),
sscanf($dt, '%d-%d-%d %d:%d:%d'),
);