#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

#my $date = "2002-08-23 11:39:24";
#my $date = "Fri Aug 23 12:14:04 2002";
my $date = "Fri Aug 2 12:14:04 2002";

my $format;
if ($date =~ /\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d/) {
    print "yes\n";
    $format = "YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS";
}
elsif ($date =~ /\w\w\w \w\w\w \d{1,2} \d\d:\d\d:\d\d \d\d\d\d/) {
    print "2nd one\n";
    $format = "DY MON DD HH24:MI:SS YYYY";
}

my $sql = qq{
  INSERT INTO mytable (DATE_COL)
    VALUES (TO_DATE('?', '?')
};

$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql) || die $dbh::errstr;
$sth->execute($date, $format) || die $dbh::errstr;

### blah blah ###