Compare date with date list in PHP - php

Question

I have a date list like:
2012-04-11
2012-04-29
2012-04-26
2012-04-23
2012-03-21
2012-07-23
2012-12-19
I want to compare date list with today date. From that I want a list of dates which have already past. Also, I want a list of dates which are in the Future.

Answer 1

You can use strtotime() to convert your dates to UNIX timestamp then perform a simple greater/less than test. Do something like this:
<?php
$past_dates = array();
$future_dates = array();
$dates = array('2012-04-11', '2012-04-29', '2012-04-26', '2012-04-23', '2012-03-21', '2012-07-23', '2012-12-19');
$today = date('Y-m-d');
foreach($dates as $value) {
if(strtotime($value) < strtotime($today)) {
$past_dates[] = $value;
} else if(strtotime($value) > strtotime($today)) {
$future_dates[] = $value;
}
}
echo 'Past dates:';
echo '<pre>';
print_r($past_dates);
echo 'Future dates:';
echo '<pre>';
print_r($future_dates);
echo '</pre>';
echo 'Today is: ' . $today;
?>

Answer 2

Use PHP's strtotime() method:
$date = "2012-04-29";
$todays_date = date("Y-m-d");
$today = strtotime($todays_date);
$test_date = strtotime($date);
if ($test_date > $today) {
// Some Code
}
else {
// Some code
}

Answer 3

$dateArray = array('2012-04-11','2012-04-29','2012-04-26','2012-04-23','2012-03-21','2012-07-23','2012-12-19')
$pastDates = array();
$futureDates = array();
foreach ($dateArray as $date){
$dateTime = strtotime($date);
if (time() > $dateTime){
$pastDates[] = $date;
} else {
$futureDates[] = $date;
}
}

Answer 4

Try http://www.php.net/manual/en/datetime.diff.php
From manual:
Object oriented style
<?php
$datetime1 = new DateTime('2009-10-11');
$datetime2 = new DateTime('2009-10-13');
$interval = $datetime1->diff($datetime2);
echo $interval->format('%R%a days');
?>
Procedural style
<?php
$datetime1 = date_create('2009-10-11');
$datetime2 = date_create('2009-10-13');
$interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);
echo $interval->format('%R%a days');
?>
The above examples will output:
+2 days
Also maybe you will find usefull.
Example #2 DateTime object comparison
Note:
As of PHP 5.2.2, DateTime objects can be compared using comparison operators.
<?php
$date1 = new DateTime("now");
$date2 = new DateTime("tomorrow");
var_dump($date1 == $date2);
var_dump($date1 < $date2);
var_dump($date1 > $date2);
?>
The above example will output:
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(false)