PHP comparing two dates for expire date

Question

Hi i'm trying to make something that compares dates from my database to check if my license is expired.

My dates are stored in this format: 18/05/2019 (d/m/Y)

in my code i create a variable for today's date:

$TodayDate = Date('d/m/Y');

then i get the row that contains the date in my database like so:

$DBLicenseExpireDate  = $row["LicenseExpireDate"];

and finally i try to see if the date is expired:

 if ($TodayDate < $DBLicenseExpireDate) {
           }

i've also tried:

 if ($TodayDate < strtotime($DBLicenseExpireDate)) {
           }

in almost all cases i tried it said it was expired while it was not.

I get some weird results. Example: If today's date is : 05/18/2019 and the expire date is: 06/06/2019 and i try this if statement:

if($todayDate < $expireDate)
{
  echo 'not expired';
}
else
{
echo 'expired';
}

it still results as expired. seen million questions about checking expire dates, tried them all. I must be doing something wrong.

If you don't want to code this yourself, use [Carbon](https://carbon.nesbot.com/) — ryantxr, May 18 '19 at 01:05

John Conde · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-18T01:15:20.087

3

Don't use strtotime() for date math. Use `DateTime() which is much better suited for working with dates.
Your date format is not compatible with strtotime(). When using m/d/Y format is is assumed that you are using US date format and dates like 18/05/2019 is evaluated as "the fifth day of the 18th month of 2019". Obviously that is not what you mean and you will get 1970-01-01 as a result.

Use DateTime::CreateFromFormat() to get the date you want and then do your comparison:

// Parse the european date format
$date1 = DateTime::CreateFromFormat('%d/%m/%Y', '18/05/2019');
// Get today ("now")
$date2 = new DateTime(); 
// DateTime objects are comparable so you can compare these two variables directly
if ($date2 < $date1) {
    // today is before the 18th of May
}
else {
    // today is after the 18th of May
}

edited May 18 '19 at 01:15

answered May 18 '19 at 01:14

John Conde

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I'm surprised you didn't beat me to it. You're a quick gun and I am slow when on my chromebook (but I love it anyway). – John Conde May 18 '19 at 01:16
And a good answer it is :) – John Conde May 18 '19 at 01:17
Thanks John - always appreciate the kudos from someone with your level of experience on the site. – Nick May 18 '19 at 01:24
Thanks a lot! ```$expdate = DateTime::CreateFromFormat('d/m/Y', $DBLicenseExpireDate); ``` fixed it for me! – Siy May 18 '19 at 01:38

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '19 at 01:25

-1

$TodayDate = Date('d/m/Y');
echo '<br/>'.$TodayDate;

//$DBLicenseExpireDate  = $row["LicenseExpireDate"];
//Suppose $DBLicenseExpireDate is 17/05/2019
$DBLicenseExpireDate = '17/05/2019';
echo '<br/>'.$DBLicenseExpireDate;

$TodayDateDateTimeStamp = DateTime::createFromFormat('!d/m/Y', $TodayDate)->getTimestamp();
$DBLicenseExpireDateDateTimeStamp = DateTime::createFromFormat('!d/m/Y', $DBLicenseExpireDate)->getTimestamp();

echo '<br/>'.$TodayDateDateTimeStamp;
echo '<br/>'.$DBLicenseExpireDateDateTimeStamp;

if($TodayDateDateTimeStamp > $DBLicenseExpireDateDateTimeStamp)
    echo "<br/>License Expired";
else
    echo "<br/>Not Expired";

Reference https://php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php

answered May 18 '19 at 01:25

Brain Developer

72
8

I had to downvote you because your answer is the same as mine but you don't bother to explain *why* it solves their problem. I also don't know why you linked to `strtotime()` when it isn't part of your answer. And PHP does not have a built in `Date()` class. – John Conde May 18 '19 at 02:20
He's calling the date() function but using an uppercase D which works the same. – ryantxr May 18 '19 at 03:30
@JohnConde have you run my code ? Run this and if you are getting any error let me know. Downvote is okay. As you have posted it just few min ago.. doen't mean i have copied your code.. Thanks – Brain Developer May 18 '19 at 08:44

PHP comparing two dates for expire date

2 Answers2