Comparing Two Dates in PHP
Given two dates (date1 and date2) and the task is to compare the given dates. Comparing two dates in PHP is simple when both the dates are in the same format but the problem arises when both dates are in a different format.
Below are the approaches to compare two dates in PHP:
Approach 1: Using comparison operator
If the given dates are in the same format then use a simple comparison operator to compare the dates.
Example: The below example shows the implementation of the above-mentioned approach.
<?php
// PHP program to compare dates
// Declare two dates and
// initialize it
$date1 = "1998-11-24";
$date2 = "1997-03-26";
// Use comparison operator to
// compare dates
if ($date1 > $date2)
echo "$date1 is latest than $date2";
else
echo "$date1 is older than $date2";
?>
Output
1998-11-24 is latest than 1997-03-26
Approach 2: Using strtotime() function
If both of the given dates are in different formats then use strtotime() function to convert the given dates into the corresponding timestamp format and lastly compare these numerical timestamps to get the desired result.
Example: Below example shows the implementation of the above-mentioned approach.
<?php
// PHP program to compare dates
// Declare two dates in different
// format
$date1 = "12-03-26";
$date2 = "2011-10-24";
// Use strtotime() function to convert
// date into dateTimestamp
$dateTimestamp1 = strtotime($date1);
$dateTimestamp2 = strtotime($date2);
// Compare the timestamp date
if ($dateTimestamp1 > $dateTimestamp2)
echo "$date1 is latest than $date2";
else
echo "$date1 is older than $date2";
?>
Output
12-03-26 is latest than 2011-10-24
Approach 3: Using DateTime class
This PHP code compares two dates using the DateTime() function and prints which date is later by formatting them as “Y-m-d”. It checks if $date1 is later than $date2.
Example: Below example shows the implementation of the above-mentioned approach.
<?php
// PHP program to compare dates
// Declare two dates in different
// format and use DateTime() function
// to convert date into DateTime
$date1 = new DateTime("12-11-24");
$date2 = new DateTime("2011-03-26");
// Compare the dates
if ($date1 > $date2)
echo $date1->format("Y-m-d") . " is latest than "
. $date2->format("Y-m-d");
else
echo $date1->format("Y-m-d") . " is older than "
. $date2->format("Y-m-d");
?>
Output
2012-11-24 is latest than 2011-03-26
PHP is a server-side scripting language designed specifically for web development. You can learn PHP from the ground up by following this PHP Tutorial and PHP Examples.
