title: Assembly x86 Date to Number - Breaking a string into smaller sections
body: <p>I'm actually looking to be pointed in the right direction on an issue.</p>
  
  <p>I'm looking to convert a date in x86 Assembly from the format "DD-MMM-YYYY" to a unique number so that it can be bubble sorted later and eventually converted back.</p>
  
  <p>So, when I have a string input ie:
  .data
      inDate dw "08-SEP-1993"</p>
  
  <p>And I want to split it up to</p>
  
  <pre><code>day = "08"
  month = "SEP"
  year = "1993"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So that I can process it further (I'll be converting SEP to "7", ect.)</p>
  
  <p>So my question is what is a simple, efficient way to break the date down (code-wise)? I know I'll need to convert the date format to allow for sorting, but I'm new to Assembly so I'm not positive how to break the string up so I can convert it.</p>
  
  <p>Also, as a second question, how would you convert a number from the string to an actual numerical value?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>
  
  <p>NOTE: I suppose it should be noted I'm using masm32</p>