Optimizing PHP code (trying to determine min/max/between case) - php

Question

I know this code-bit does not conform very much to best coding practices, and was looking to improve it, any ideas?
if ($query['date_min'] != _get_date_today())
$mode_min = true;
if ($query['date_max'] != _get_date_today())
$mode_max = true;
if ($mode_max && $mode_min)
$mode = "between";
elseif ($mode_max && !$mode_min)
$mode = "max";
elseif (!$mode_max && $mode_min)
$mode = "min";
else
return;
if ($mode == "min" || $mode == "between") {
$command_min = "A";
}
if ($mode == "max" || $mode == "between") {
$command_max = "B";
}
if ($mode == "between") {
$command = $command_min . " AND " . $command_max;
} else {
if ($mode == "min")
$command = $command_min;
if ($mode == "max")
$command = $command_max;
}
echo $command;
Solution:
$mode_min = ($query['date_min'] != _get_date_today());
$mode_max = ($query['date_max'] != _get_date_today());
if ($mode_min){
$command_min = "A";
}
if ($mode_max) {
$command_max = "B";
}
if ($mode_min && $mode_max) {
$command = $command_min . " AND " . $command_max;
} else {
if ($mode_min)
$command = $command_min;
if ($mode_max)
$command = $command_max;
}

Answer 1

Technically your variables are undefined if the condition is not met, so I would just use:
$mod_min = ($query['date_min'] != _get_date_today());
$mod_max = ($query['date_max'] != _get_date_today());
Apart from that, why are you defining the $mode variable, do you need it somewhere else? If not, you can just use $mod_min and $mod_max in your last set of if statements.
For example:
if ($mode == "min" || $mode == "between")
seems to translate to:
if ($mod_min)
Edit: An edit of your last update:
$command_min = "A";
$command_max = "B";
if ($mode_min && $mode_max) {
$command = $command_min . " AND " . $command_max;
}
elseif ($mode_min){
$command = $command_min;
}
elseif ($mode_max) {
$command = $command_max;
} else {
return;
}