Are PHP DateInterval comparable like DateTime?

Question

I discovered that a DateTime object in PHP can be compared to another as the \">\" and \"<\" operators are overloaded.

Is it the same with DateInterval?

A

Answer 1

Looks like there was a related bug/feature request, not sure if that ever made it in the trunk. It's not documented (that I Can find) either way - so probably not safe to use.

That said, after some testing it seems that they can be compared, but only after they've been 'evaluated' in some way (doing a var dump changes the outcome). Here's my test/result:

<?php
$int15 = new DateInterval('P15D');
$int20 = new DateInterval('P20D');

var_dump($int15 > $int20); //should be false;
var_dump($int20 > $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 < $int20); //should be true;
var_dump($int20 < $int15); //should be false;

var_dump($int15);
var_dump($int20);

var_dump($int15 > $int20); //should be false;
var_dump($int20 > $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 < $int20); //should be true;
var_dump($int20 < $int15); //should be false;

$date = new DateTime();
$diff = $date->diff(new DateTime("+10 days"));

var_dump($int15 < $diff); //should be false;
var_dump($diff < $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 > $diff); //should be true;
var_dump($diff > $int15); //should be false;

var_dump($diff);

var_dump($int15 < $diff); //should be false;
var_dump($diff < $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 > $diff); //should be true;
var_dump($diff > $int15); //should be false;

Result (I've omitted the full dumps of the interval objects):

bool(false)
bool(false)
bool(false)
bool(false)
object(DateInterval)#1 (8) {...}
object(DateInterval)#2 (8) {...}
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)

bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)
object(DateInterval)#5 (8) {...}
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)