PHP datetime comparison is not woking normally - php

Question

Although my question seems can be found the solution on the internet easily. But I've already tried but it's not working.
I've already followed https://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.diff.php Example #2 DateTime object comparison
or another solution like https://thevaluable.dev/php-datetime-create-compare-format/ Comparing DateTime Objects
But it is still not working.
Here is my code,
$end_time = new DateTime('2020-04-05 23:59:00');
$now = new DateTime('now');
if( $now > $end_time ){
echo 'expired!';
}
It throws the error
Object of class DateTime could not be converted to string.
Edited
I'm using PHP 7.1.23

Answer 1

Here is the solution for your problem. First you have to convert them into Strings then you can use them. I have changed the input date just to show you the result of if condition.
Select your City for time zone First
date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Karachi');
Your Inputs
$input_time = new DateTime('2020-04-01 23:59:00');
$now = new DateTime('now');
Convert them to string
$input_time = $input_time->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$now = $now->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
The result
if( $now > $input_time )
{
echo 'expired!'. '<br>';
}

Answer 2

If it doesn't need to be an actual DateTime object, you could use times instead, which will then compare the same as an integer would.
Eg
$end_time = strtotime('2020-04-05 23:59:00');
$now = time();
if( $now > $end_time ) {
echo 'expired!';
}