Index: funcs/func_strings.c
===================================================================
--- funcs/func_strings.c	(revision 8111)
+++ funcs/func_strings.c	(working copy)
@@ -194,6 +194,54 @@
 	.read = acf_strftime,
 };
 
+static char *acf_strptime(struct ast_channel *chan, char *cmd, char *data, char *buf, size_t len) 
+{
+	char *format, *datetime, *timezone = NULL;
+	struct tm time;
+
+	memset(&time,0,sizeof(struct tm));
+	
+	buf[0] = '\0';
+
+	if (!data) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Asterisk function STRPTIME() requires an argument.\n");
+		return buf;
+	}
+	
+	format = ast_strdupa(data);
+	if (!format) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Out of memory\n");
+		return buf;
+	}
+	
+	datetime = strsep(&format, "|");
+	
+	if (ast_strlen_zero(format) ) {
+	       	ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "No format supplied to STRPTIME()");
+		return buf;
+	}
+			
+	if (!strptime(datetime, format, &time)) {
+	  ast_log(LOG_WARNING, "C function strftime() output nothing?!!\n");
+	} else {
+	  sprintf(buf, "%d", (unsigned int)mktime(&time));	  
+	}
+	
+	buf[len - 1] = '\0';
+
+	return buf;
+}
+
+#ifndef BUILTIN_FUNC
+static
+#endif
+struct ast_custom_function strptime_function = {
+	.name = "STRPTIME",
+	.synopsis = "Returns the epoch of the arbitrary date/time string structured as described in the format.",
+	.syntax = "STRPTIME(<datetime>|<format>)",
+	.read = acf_strptime,
+};
+
 static char *function_eval(struct ast_channel *chan, char *cmd, char *data, char *buf, size_t len) 
 {
 	memset(buf, 0, len);