Compare Dates

[searls03]

is there anyway to compare dates in the format of dd/mm/yyyy? if so, how do I do it? Do i need to convert to a different format? please help

[searls03]

mm/dd/yyyy format, sorry

[Jessica]

Yes.

[searls03]

ok.....so could you help me get started?

[Jessica]

You ask a vague question, you get a vague answer.

 

[searls03]

I don't know how to describe it well. I want to compare two dates to each other....two in mm/dd/yyyy format. I want to see if date1 is greater that date2. How can I go about with this.

[Jessica]

You'll want to use the DateTime library.

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/book.datetime.php

 

But mm/dd/yyyy is not a valid format to convert. Where are the dates coming from?

[searls03]

I am forming the dates using jquery's datepicker. it shows up as that format and then stores it in a database. I then have a calendar that pulls the date from the database and places it in the calendar. I can't use another format for this, as it is how the calendar is designed to work....believe me, I have tried other formats. I will take a look at the link you provided. I guess maybe I could insert the date into two columns or something and do it that way maybe.

[searls03]

what format do I need to put it in in order to compare, and how do I go about comparing? I think I found a code that may be able to convert to different formats, but I need to know what format it needs to be in.

[Pikachu2000]

That's not the right way to store dates in a database. In fact it's a pretty bad way to do it since you lose the ability to run comparisons on them, as you've undoubtedly noticed. Dates should be stored in YYYY-MM-DD format.

[silkfire]

Comparing dates is a rather simple task in PHP. In your case I would suggest something like this:

 

$date1 = strtotime($date1);
$date2 = strtotime($date2)

if ($date2 > $date1) {

// CODE

}

[Jessica]

As was said before, the format hes using is Not a valid format for PHP functions.

[Pikachu2000]

Not to mention that comparing dates in php that are stored in a database is about as efficient as a steam powered light bulb.

[silkfire]

I just tried my code with an example date '08/01/2012' and it worked perfectly, Jessica

[Barand]

Some formats work better than others

 

<?php
echo '<b>UK</b><br />';
echo '25/12/2012 --> ' . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('25/12/2012')) . '<br />';
echo '25-12-2012 --> ' . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('25-12-2012')) . '<br />';
echo '25.12.2012 --> ' . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('25.12.2012')) . '<br />';
echo '<b>US</b><br />';
echo '12/25/2012 --> ' . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('12/25/2012')) . '<br />';
echo '12-25-2012 --> ' . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('12-25-2012')) . '<br />';
echo '12.25.2012 --> ' . date('Y-m-d', strtotime('12.25.2012')) . '<br />';
?>

RESULTS:

UK
25/12/2012 --> 1970-01-01
25-12-2012 --> 2012-12-25 ok
25.12.2012 --> 2012-12-25 ok
US
12/25/2012 --> 2012-12-25 ok
12-25-2012 --> 1970-01-01
12.25.2012 --> 1970-01-01

[salathe]

But mm/dd/yyyy is not a valid format to convert. Where are the dates coming from?

 

Sure it is, see Date Formats and in particular the "American month, day and year" format.

[Jessica]

Yep, I stand corrected, when using the slashes only it works. Sorry about that. 

 

I do think it'd be better to fix the JS to use a YYYY-MM-DD format but Op should be able to get it working with strtotime now.

[salathe]

I don't know which datepicker the OP is using, but any worth their salt would have a customisable output-date format.  I'm with Jessica, in suggesting looking in that direction.  Then you can compare the dates either using PHP's DateTime objects or with plain-old-string-comparison.