How To Compare Any Format Date In PHP

Mitali Kukadiya May 14, 2022 0 586

In this article, We will learn about how to compare any format date in PHP.

We are use the PHP strtotime() Function.

strtotime() Function:

The strtotime() function is a built-in function in PHP that converts date or time-related strings into real date/time objects.

Which is used function is so powerful that it can parse virtually any DateTime-related English text to Unix timestamp and also The function accepts a string parameter in English which represents the description of date-time.

Syntax:

strtotime( $datetime, $timenow);

Parameters:

$datetime: Required. Specific a valid format date/time string.
$timenow: Optional. The timestamp is used as a base for the calculation of relative dates.

Return Values:

Returns a timestamp on success, false otherwise.

The below program demonstrates converting into the strtotime() of different format dates and then comparing these timestamp strings.

<?php 
  $date1 = "12-03-26";
  $date2 = "2011-10-24";

  $date3 = "+1 week 3 days 7 hours 5 seconds";
  $date4 = "next Monday";

  $date5 = "3 October 2005";
  $date6 = date( "Y/m/d" ) ;
  echo strtotime( "25/	05/2010" );
  //Use strtotime() function to convert
  //date into datetimestamp
  $datetimestamp1 = strtotime( $date1 );
  $datetimestamp2 = strtotime( $date2 );

  $datetimestamp3 = strtotime( $date3 );
  $datetimestamp4 = strtotime( $date4 );

  $datetimestamp5 = strtotime( $date5 );
  $datetimestamp6 = strtotime( $date6 );

  //Compare the timestamp date 
  echo '<h3>Compare the first condition:</h3>';
  if ( $datetimestamp1 > $datetimestamp2 ) {
    echo "$date1 is latest than $date2";
  } else {
    echo "$date1 is older than $date2";
  }

  echo '<h3>Compare the second condition:</h3>';
  if ( $datetimestamp3 > $datetimestamp4 ) {
    echo "$date3 is latest than $date4";
  } else {
    echo "$date3 is older than $date4";
  }

  echo '<h3>Compare the third condition:</h3>';
  if ( $datetimestamp5 > $datetimestamp6 ) {
    echo "$date5 is latest than $date6";
  } else {
    echo "$date5 is older than $date6";
  }
?>

Now you can see the output of comparing different format dates.

Output: