2 files changed, 28 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/system/helpers/array_helper.php b/system/helpers/array_helper.php
index 5d0243951..ed2fe3c4a 100644
--- a/system/helpers/array_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/array_helper.php
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ if ( ! function_exists('element'))
 	 */
 	function element($item, $array, $default = NULL)
 	{
-		return empty($array[$item]) ? $default : $array[$item];
+		return array_key_exists($item, $array) ? $array[$item] : $default;
 	}
 }
 
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ if ( ! function_exists('elements'))
 
 		foreach ($items as $item)
 		{
-			$return[$item] = isset($array[$item]) ? $array[$item] : $default;
+			$return[$item] = array_key_exists($item, $array) ? $array[$item] : $default;
 		}
 
 		return $return;
diff --git a/system/helpers/date_helper.php b/system/helpers/date_helper.php
index 9637e26ce..a45b3d7ac 100644
--- a/system/helpers/date_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/date_helper.php
@@ -117,26 +117,37 @@ if ( ! function_exists('standard_date'))
 	 *
 	 * Returns a date formatted according to the submitted standard.
 	 *
+	 * As of PHP 5.2, the DateTime extension provides constants that
+	 * serve for the exact same purpose and are used with date().
+	 * Due to that, this function is DEPRECATED and should be removed
+	 * in CodeIgniter 3.1+.
+	 *
+	 * Here are two examples of how you should replace it:
+	 *
+	 *	date(DATE_RFC822, now()); // default
+	 *	date(DATE_W3C, $time); // a different format and time
+	 *
+	 * Reference: http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.datetime.php#datetime.constants.types
+	 *
+	 * @deprecated
 	 * @param	string	the chosen format
 	 * @param	int	Unix timestamp
 	 * @return	string
 	 */
-	function standard_date($fmt = 'DATE_RFC822', $time = '')
+	function standard_date($fmt = 'DATE_RFC822', $time = NULL)
 	{
-		$formats = array(
-				'DATE_ATOM'		=>	'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%i:%s%P',
-				'DATE_COOKIE'	=>	'%l, %d-%M-%y %H:%i:%s UTC',
-				'DATE_ISO8601'	=>	'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%i:%s%P',
-				'DATE_RFC822'	=>	'%D, %d %M %y %H:%i:%s %O',
-				'DATE_RFC850'	=>	'%l, %d-%M-%y %H:%i:%s UTC',
-				'DATE_RFC1036'	=>	'%D, %d %M %y %H:%i:%s %O',
-				'DATE_RFC1123'	=>	'%D, %d %M %Y %H:%i:%s %O',
-				'DATE_RFC2822'	=>	'%r',
-				'DATE_RSS'		=>	'%D, %d %M %Y %H:%i:%s %O',
-				'DATE_W3C'		=>	'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%i:%s%P'
-				);
-
-		return isset($formats[$fmt]) ? mdate($formats[$fmt], $time) : FALSE;
+		if (empty($time))
+		{
+			$time = now();
+		}
+
+		// Procedural style pre-defined constants from the DateTime extension
+		if (strpos($fmt, 'DATE_') !== 0 OR defined($fmt) === FALSE)
+		{
+			return FALSE;
+		}
+
+		return date(constant($fmt), $time);
 	}
 }