How Can I Accurately Compare Dates in PHP, Especially When Dealing with Non-Zero-Padded Days?

Comparing Dates in PHP

In this scenario, we need to compare current date against a stored date in the database, where the latter is in the format "YYYY-MM-D" without zero-padded days.

To compare dates in PHP, there are several approaches available:

1. DateTime Class (PHP >= 5.2.0):

$today_dt = new DateTime("now");
$expire_dt = new DateTime($expireDate);

if ($expire_dt < $today_dt) {
    // Do something
}

2. strtotime() Function:

$today_time = strtotime(date("Y-m-d"));
$expire_time = strtotime($expireDate);

if ($expire_time < $today_time) {
    // Do something
}

3. Simple Comparison (Note: May not be accurate for dates prior to 1970-01-01):

$today = date("Y-m-d");

if ($today < $expireDate) {
    // Do something
}

When comparing the dates, it's important to remember that the stored date may not have zero-padded days. As a result, simple string comparison may not provide accurate results. Therefore, using a method like the DateTime class or strtotime() is preferred.

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