With php you can use mktime() with ereg()
// Cut the date in parts
$parts = split( '-', $yourdate );
// Make a timestamp with it
$ts = mktime( 0, 0, 0, $parts[1], $parts[2], $parts[0] );
/
Syntax:
int mktime (int hour, int minute, int second, int month, int day, int year [, int is_dst])
/
