Check if data is older then the current time php - php

Question

I am trying to check if in a database the time of a row and a certain column is older then today then to echo success but it is echoing success for a date which is tomorrows!
Code
// Set variable for the time
$timenow = date('l jS \of F Y h:i:s A');
// Start Expired password check and drop function
function cronexec_expired ($timenow) {
include('../../config.php');
// Open up a new MySQLi connection to the MySQL database
mysql_connect($dbHost, $dbUsername, $dbPassword);
mysql_select_db($dbTable);
// Query to check the status of the code input
$expiry_check = "SELECT * FROM code_log WHERE status='Unused'";
// Run the query
$expiry_checkexec = mysql_query($expiry_check);
while($expiry_possibles = mysql_fetch_array($expiry_checkexec)) {
echo $expiry_possibles[6] . '<br /><br />';
echo $timenow . '<br /><br />';
if (date('l jS \of F Y h:i:s A', strtotime($expiry_possibles[6]) < $timenow)) {
echo "Success";
}
}
}
$expiry_possibles[6] value
Monday 9th of September 2013 12:46:20 PM
Time Now
Sunday 8th of September 2013 01:35:22 PM
Any advice would be appreciated

Answer 1

I don't see why you are using a full length date, there is no need. Instead how about using the unix timestamp? See http://php.net/manual/en/function.time.php. The comparison might be having a hard time comparing a full date string?
I've always found it a lot easier to use time() as its basically comparing two numbers.
$current_time = time();
$expiry_possibles_timestamp = strtotime($expiry_possibles[6]);
if ($current_time > $expiry_possibles_timestamp)
{
// Older than current time
}
I've modified your code below, try that out. Bear in mind you will need PHP 5.3 and above.
function cronexec_expired($timenow)
{
include('../../config.php');
// Open up a new MySQLi connection to the MySQL database
mysql_connect($dbHost, $dbUsername, $dbPassword);
mysql_select_db($dbTable);
// Query to check the status of the code input
$expiry_check = "SELECT * FROM code_log WHERE status='Unused'";
// Run the query
$expiry_checkexec = mysql_query($expiry_check);
while ($expiry_possibles = mysql_fetch_array($expiry_checkexec))
{
echo $expiry_possibles[6] . '<br /><br />';
echo $timenow . '<br /><br />';
$datetime = DateTime::createFromFormat('l jS \of F Y h:i:s', $expiry_possibles[6]);
if (!$datetime) continue; // Skip this execution as we cannot parse the date, so we will not trust it.
if (time() > $datetime->getTimestamp())
{
echo "Database row is in the past";
} else
{
echo "Database row is in the future";
}
}
}
That should work, although I have not tested it. How is the date stored in the database? It should be in MySQL format (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS) or in a unix timestamp format.

Answer 2

I recommend using the DateTime and DateInterval classes.
You can them compare if the difference is, say, exactly one day:
$expiry = new DateTime($expiry_possibles[6]);
if ($expiry->diff($time_now)->format('%d') == "1") ...
Or vice versa. There is also a procedural interface for this in the form of date_diff()
More info:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.diff.php