Get most recent date from an array of dates

Question

I have the array of dates below

array(5) { 
    [0]=> string(19) \"2012-06-11 08:30:49\" 
    [1]=> string(19) \"2012-06-07 08:03:54\" 
    [2]=> st         


        

Answer 1

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;