Check if a day and month based date is in between two other dates in PHP

Question

I have tried several of the examples mentioned on stackoverflow about this issue, but I can't figure out why the returns I get are inconsistent with expected behaviour. I'm trying to get every user that had their birthday last month. Birthdays are stored as follows: d-m-yyyy. The following sample code shows the issue:

    $start = "01-10-2019";
    $end = "31-10-2019";
    $test = "01-11-1968";
    $start_date = date("d-m", strtotime($start));
    $end_date = date("d-m", strtotime($end));
    $test_date = date("d-m", strtotime($test));

    if(($test_date >= $start_date) && ($test_date <= $end_date))
    {
        error_log("date is in between");
    } else
    {
        error_log("is not");
    }

This code returns "date is in between", even though the expected return is "is not". It seems that everything date before $start gives the proper return, but everything after $end does not.

Why do you compare **strings** if they contain dates? – Nico Haase Nov 06 '19 at 16:01 — Nico Haase, Nov 06 '19 at 16:01
Try with `strtotime($start)` remove `d-m` date format. – Gowri Nov 06 '19 at 16:04 — Gowri, Nov 06 '19 at 16:04

Fred · Answer 1 · 2019-11-06T16:51:55.327

Here would be my solution with DateTime objects.

Edit: Be aware that the parameters are passed by reference. So the years of the objects get overwritten by the current year.

Edit2: The function no longer touches the specified DateTime objects.

<?php

$start = "01-10-2019";
$end = "31-10-2019";
$test = "01-11-1968";

$start = new \DateTime($start);
$end = new \DateTime($end);
$test = new \DateTime($test);

function isBetweenDateIgnoreYear(\DateTime $startInput, \DateTime $endInput, \DateTime $checkInput)
{
    $start = clone $startInput;
    $end = clone $endInput;
    $check = clone $checkInput;

    $currentYear = (int) date('Y');
    $start->setDate($currentYear, (int) $start->format('m'), (int) $start->format('d'));
    $end->setDate($currentYear, (int) $end->format('m'), (int) $end->format('d'));
    $check->setDate($currentYear, (int) $check->format('m'), (int) $check->format('d'));

    return ($start <= $check && $check <= $end);
}

$result = isBetweenDateIgnoreYear($start, $end, $test);
var_dump($result);

RiggsFolly · Answer 2 · 2019-11-06T16:14:19.470

0

Make use of the unix date format as that is a simple number like this

$start = "01-10-2019";
$end = "31-10-2019";
$test = "01-11-1968";
$start_date = strtotime($start);
$end_date = strtotime($end);
// get d and m and from DOB and replace Year with current year
$test_date = strtotime( date("d-m", strtotime($test)) . '-' . date('Y') );

if(($test_date >= $start_date) && ($test_date <= $end_date))
{
    echo "date is in between";
} else {
    echo "is not";
}

Why yours didnt work:

You were comparing for example 01-11 and 31-10 those will not compare nicely.

edited Nov 06 '19 at 16:14

answered Nov 06 '19 at 16:09

RiggsFolly

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Still not sure why my sample doesn't work, but this works, thanks! – Martijn Hendrikx Nov 06 '19 at 16:12
A much better solution : `$test_date = new DateTime()->getTimeStamp()` – Martin Paucot Nov 06 '19 at 16:18
@MartinPaucot Maybe, but as the OP has nearly got there using `strtodate()` I answered along those lines rather than something completely different – RiggsFolly Nov 06 '19 at 16:22
1

@MartinPaucot Not sure it deserved a downvote but if thats how you role, fine – RiggsFolly Nov 06 '19 at 16:24

Check if a day and month based date is in between two other dates in PHP

2 Answers2