How Can I Compare a Given Date with Today's Date in PHP?

Comparing a Given Date with Today

Given a date stored in a variable, such as $var = "2010-01-21 00:00:00.0", it is often necessary to compare it with today's date to determine its relative position in time. To accomplish this, several built-in PHP functions can be employed.

Solution:

The following steps outline the approach for comparing $var with today's date:

1. Convert the String to Time Value:

   Use the strtotime() function to convert $var into a UNIX timestamp representing the number of seconds since January 1, 1970.

   $timestamp = strtotime($var);

2. Calculate the Time Difference:

   Subtract the UNIX timestamp of $var from the current time, which can be obtained using the time() function.

   $timeDiff = time() - $timestamp;

3. Compare the Time Difference:

   Determine the relative position of $var compared to today's date:

   • If $timeDiff is negative, $var is in the future.
   • If $timeDiff is zero, $var is today.
   • If $timeDiff is positive, $var is in the past.

For instance, the following code snippet demonstrates how to check if $var has occurred within the last day:

if (($timeDiff / (60 * 60 * 24)) < 1) { ... }

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