Get most recent date from an array of dates in "Y-m-d H:i:s" format

Question

I have the array of dates in Y-m-d H:i:s format like:

array(5) { 
    [0]=> string(19) "2012-06-11 08:30:49" 
    [1]=> string(19) "2012-06-07 08:03:54" 
    [2]=> string(19) "2012-05-26 23:04:04" 
    [3]=> string(19) "2012-05-27 08:30:00" 
    [4]=> string(19) "2012-06-08 08:30:55" 
}

I would like to know the most recent date.

In other words, today is June 13th 2012, which datetime is closest to today's date?

From my sample array, I am expecting 2012-06-11 08:30:49.

How can I do that?

What does "_most recent date as in: the closest to today's date_" mean exactly? You want the most recent date that does not exceed the current date? Is this just a misunderstanding of your choice of English? All of your dates are before are earlier than your date of posting this question. — mickmackusa, Jan 21 '22 at 08:28

score 95 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 11:01

95

Use max(), array_map(), and strtotime().

$max = max(array_map('strtotime', $arr));
echo date('Y-m-j H:i:s', $max); // 2012-06-11 08:30:49

answered Jun 13 '12 at 11:01

flowfree

16,356
12
52
76

PEM · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-13T13:11:06.343

33

Do a loop, convert the values to date, and store the most recent, in a var.

$mostRecent= 0;
foreach($dates as $date){
  $curDate = strtotime($date);
  if ($curDate > $mostRecent) {
     $mostRecent = $curDate;
  }
}

something like that... you get the idea If you want most recent BEFORE today :

$mostRecent= 0;
$now = time();
foreach($dates as $date){
  $curDate = strtotime($date);
  if ($curDate > $mostRecent && $curDate < $now) {
     $mostRecent = $curDate;
  }
}

edited Jun 13 '12 at 13:11

answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:29

PEM

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14
13

1

Converting dates to timestamps so that you have ints. then it's a simple int comparison, bigger = most recent. If your array is big, and your are looking for performances, then this is probably the simplest and fastest way. – PEM Jun 13 '12 at 10:38
Thank you, don't forget to validate the answer :) thank you By the way, if you want a date < as today, you can simply add a $now = time(); before the loop, and && $curDate < $now in the if condition – PEM Jun 13 '12 at 13:07
I think it should be $curDate = date('Ymd',strtotime($date)); and not just $curDate = strtotime($date); – Sam San Jan 31 '14 at 11:11
1

@IvorySantos I do not think we need the "date('Ymd',strtotime($date));" if we work with timestamps. Working with TS is better than with date strings imho – PEM Feb 03 '14 at 16:34

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:29

6

Sort the array by date, and then get the front value of the array.

$dates = array(5) { /** omitted to keep code compact */ }
$dates = array_combine($dates, array_map('strtotime', $dates));
arsort($dates);
echo $dates[0];

answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:29

FThompson

28,352
13
60
93

+1 With one modification, 'most recent' cannot be a future date or something aint quite right.. $dates = array_filter($dates, function($val) { return strtotime($val) < time(); }); – mschr Jun 27 '12 at 21:12
no need for date, just sort and get highest value: echo end(asort($dates)); – Jonathan Joosten Oct 25 '19 at 09:16

Sumeet · Answer 4 · 2016-05-03T07:12:50.943

6

$dates = [
    "2012-06-11 08:30:49" 
    ,"2012-06-07 08:03:54" 
    ,"2012-05-26 23:04:04" 
    ,"2012-05-27 08:30:00" 
    ,"2012-06-08 08:30:55" 
];
echo date("Y-m-d g:i:s",max(array_map('strtotime',$dates)));

edited May 03 '16 at 07:12

answered May 02 '16 at 14:22

Sumeet

1,683
20
27

1

That's nice, but care to explain what your code does? – Machavity May 02 '16 at 18:47

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:35

Thats my variant. It works with date in future.

$Dates = array( 
    "2012-06-11 08:30:49", 
    "2012-06-07 08:03:54", 
    "2012-05-26 23:04:04",
    "2012-05-27 08:30:00",
    "2012-06-08 08:30:55",
    "2012-06-12 07:45:45"
);
$CloseDate = array();
$TimeNow = time();
foreach ($Dates as $Date) {
  $DateToCompare = strtotime($Date);
  $Diff = $TimeNow - $DateToCompare;
  if ($Diff < 0) $Diff *= -1;
  if (count($CloseDate) == 0) {
    $CloseDate['Date'] = $Date;
    $CloseDate['Diff'] = $Diff;
    continue;
  }
  if ($Diff < $CloseDate['Diff']) {
    $CloseDate['Date'] = $Date;
    $CloseDate['Diff'] = $Diff;
  }
}

var_dump($CloseDate);

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:29

Here is my suggestion:

$most_recent = 0;

foreach($array as $key => $date){
    if( strtotime($date) < strtotime('now') && strtotime($date) > strtotime($array[$most_recent]) ){
        $most_recent = $key;
    }
}

print $array[$most_recent]; //prints most recent day

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:31

$arrayy = array(
    "2012-06-11 08:30:49","2012-06-07 08:03:54","2012-05-26 23:04:04",
    "2012-05-27 08:30:00","2012-06-08 08:30:55" 
);

function getMostRecent($array){
    $current = date("Y-m-d h:i:s");
    $diff1 = NULL;
    $recent = NULL;
    foreach($array as $date){
        if($diff = strcmp($current,$date)){
            if($diff1 == NULL){
                $diff1 = $diff;
                $recent = $date;
            }
            else{
                if($diff < $diff1){
                    $diff1 = $diff;
                    $recent = $date;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return $recent;
}

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 11:15

I believe, following is the shortest code to find the recent date. you can alter it to find the index of the recent date or to find the recent in future or past.

$Dates = array( 
"2012-06-11 08:30:49", 
"2012-06-07 08:03:54", 
"2012-05-26 23:04:04",
"2012-05-27 08:30:00",
"2012-06-08 08:30:55",
"2012-06-22 07:45:45"
);

$close_date = current($Dates);
foreach($Dates as $date)
    if( abs(strtotime('now') - strtotime($date)) < abs(strtotime('now') - strtotime($close_date)))
        $close_date = $date;

echo $close_date;

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 08 '15 at 19:54

1

Try this:

public function getLargerDate(array $datas) {
    $newDates = array();
    foreach($datas as $data){
        $newDates[strtotime($data)] = $data;
    }
    return $newDates[max(array_keys($newDates))];
}

edited Apr 08 '15 at 19:54

Bruno Toffolo

1,504
19
24

answered Apr 08 '15 at 18:54

Rafael Harus

11
1

Rafael, SO is an English-speaking site. Please post portuguese answers for questions asked at http://pt.stackoverflow.com/. :) – Bruno Toffolo Apr 08 '15 at 19:22
1

Your answer always returns the 'maximum' date, not the maximum of dates that are earlier than today. You need the following line before you add to your $newDates array: if(strtotime($data) < strtotime(date('Y-m-j H:i:s'))){ – Warren Sergent Apr 08 '15 at 19:23
But "today" can be perfectly seen as "the most recent date, comparing to today". In this case I don't see any problem with his answer. – Bruno Toffolo Apr 08 '15 at 20:01

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 31 '15 at 06:45

Try this works 100%

function getRecentDate($date_list,$curDate){
$curDate = strtotime($curDate); 
    $mostRecent = array();
    foreach($date_list as $date){                                             
       $diff = strtotime($date)-$curDate;
       if($diff>0){
        $mostRecent[$diff] = $date;
       }
    }   
    if(!empty($mostRecent)){
        ksort($mostRecent);            
        $mostRecent_key = key($mostRecent);
        if($mostRecent_key){
            return $mostRecent[$mostRecent_key];
        }
    }else{
        return false;
    }
}
$date_list = array('15-05-2015','14-01-2015','18-03-2015','20-10-2016','12-12-2014','12-12-2015');
$curDate = '14-01-2015';    
$get_recent = getRecentDate($date_list,$curDate);
if($get_recent){
    echo $get_recent;
}else{
    echo 'No recent date exists';
}

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 21 '22 at 08:46

After nearly 10 years and nearly 50,000 page views, it seems that no one could see the forest from the trees.

The array of datetime stamps is perfectly formatted for simple string comparison. There is absolutely NO reason to call anything other than max() to get the highest/latest string. Your Y-m-d H:i:s formatted values can be compared as strings because the unit integers are arranged from greatest magnitude to least magnitude. All integers are consistently zero-padded. There is literally no preparation required.

Code: (Demo)

$dates = [
    "2012-06-11 08:30:49",
    "2012-06-07 08:03:54",
    "2012-05-26 23:04:04",
    "2012-05-27 08:30:00",
    "2012-06-08 08:30:55",
];

echo max($dates);
// 2012-06-11 08:30:49

score -1 · Answer 12 · answered May 19 '15 at 08:44

$DatesList = array( '2015-05-19', '2015-09-17', '2015-09-24', '2015-10-02', '2015-10-23', '2015-11-12', '2015-12-25' );

$counter = 0; 
$currentDate = date("Y-m-d");
foreach ($DatesList as $dates)
{
    if($dates >= $currentDate)
    {
        $storeDates[$counter] = $dates;
        $counter++;
    }
}
$closestDate = current($storeDates);
echo $closestDate;

Get most recent date from an array of dates in "Y-m-d H:i:s" format

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