split a number into sections

I have a number in a database eg 040912

clearly its a date, and I need to change it to 120904.

I have tried several of the date functions and they don't seem to work.

My next plan was to split the 6 digit number in to 3 blocks of 2 and then rearrange them in my echo line.

So how do i split the number into 3 blocks of 2?

split() won't work because there is no delimiter

Any ideas gratefully received!

TIA

Andy

ignor me substr appears to be what I need 🙂

"oh happy day" 😃