CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
willdanceforfun
willdanceforfun

Reputation: 11240

Why doesn't this simple if statement work?

I have a simple thing I'm trying to solve.

I have a date stored in a table, and I'm comparing it to a php generated date.

ie:

if($row['start_date'] < date("Y-m-d")) {

    // table stored date larger than php date
    echo 'hi';

}  else {

    // php date larger than table stored date
    echo 'bye';

}

This seems ok to me, but 

if $row['start_date'] === '2011-09-13' AND date("Y-m-d") === '2011-09-15'.

I end up with:

hi

This could be one of those twilight moments where I think left is right and a greater than symbol is actually a less than. So please help me - why doesn't this work?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 105

Answers (4)

NullUserException
NullUserException

Reputation: 85458

If $row['start_date'] = '2011-09-13' and date("Y-m-d") = '2011-09-15', then your PHP date is greater than the row's date and thus the if is true, after all '2011-09-13' is "smaller (<)" than '2011-09-15'. Flip your < to > and you'll be fine.

if($row['start_date'] > date("Y-m-d")) {

    // table stored date larger than php date
    echo 'hi';

}  else {

    // php date larger than table stored date
    echo 'bye';

}

Upvotes: 2

Brenton Alker
Brenton Alker

Reputation: 9072

I'm not sure on the validity of comparing dates as strings, using DateTime or strtotime and comparing timestamps may be more robust options but with this date format it should work as strings.

Other than that, your logic seems to work as written (if not as intended). "...13" is less than "...15", so the if will evaluate to true and "hi" will be printed.

Judging by the inline comments, it seems it may in fact be one of those twilight moments you speak of.

Upvotes: 0

xdazz
xdazz

Reputation: 160833

Use strtotime() to convert the string to unix timestamp then compare. Or use the DateTime object.

Upvotes: 1

Rolando Cruz
Rolando Cruz

Reputation: 2784

To compare dates you have to use strtotime() for $row['start_date'] and time()

if(strtotime($row['start_date']) < time())

Upvotes: 4

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