How can I compare two dates in PHP?

Question

How can I compare two dates in PHP?

The date is stored in the database in the following format

2011-10-2

If I wanted to

Answer 1

Just to compliment the already given answers, see the following example:

$today = new DateTime('');
$expireDate = new DateTime($row->expireDate); //from database



if($today->format("Y-m-d") < $expireDate->format("Y-m-d")) { 
    //do something; 
}

Update: Or simple use old-school date() function:

if(date('Y-m-d') < date('Y-m-d', strtotime($expire_date))){
    //echo not yet expired! 
}