Convert date string to datetime object
<p>Take the following date inputs:</p>

<pre><code>01/01/2012, 1-1-2012, 2012-01-20, 01012012, 20120101, 1.1.2012, 01.01.2012
</code></pre>

<p>How would I create one function that converts any typical date string into a datetime.date object. I would imagine you'd first strip any non-numeric character and then do some regex identification. </p>

<p>Let us make the assumption that if year comes first, then month comes second, and if year comes last (third), then month comes first. What would be the best function here?</p>
