Compare MYSQL DATETIME function in PHP

In the MySql database I have two columns, start_date and end_date they are both DATETIME functions so they store both the date and the time

In the sites page I'm displaying the start date, the start time and end time + plus the end date. BUT what I want to do is only show the end date when it's different from the start date like this

Date: 24 Sep 2010

Time: 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm (this being a one day event)

OR

Date: 24 Sep 2010 - 29 Sep 2010

Time: 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm (this being a multi-day event)

My current code is:

Date: <?php echo date('j M Y',strtotime ($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'])); ?> 
    <?php if ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']!=""){ ?> 
      - <?php echo date('j M Y',strtotime ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'])); ?> 
      <?php } ?>

So if the end_ date datetime is empty it doesn't show it. However if I add a second criteria of saying "OR if the end_date is not the same at the start_date, then don't show it either"

Date: <?php echo date('j M Y',strtotime ($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'])); ?> 
    <?php if ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']!="" ||  $row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'] !=  $row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'] ){ ?> 
      - <?php echo date('j M Y',strtotime ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'])); ?> 
      <?php } ?>

Now this didn't work but then I realised that the end_date would always differ from the start_date because it also stores the time. "2010-09-01 09:00:00" compared to "2010-09-01 15:00:00" for example.

So that was a long winded way of asking, how do I compare just the date and not the time part of the DATETIME function in the PHP code.

I should add that this MySQL database is part of a third party application called civiCRM so I am unable to alter the database.

The page in question is here. In this case the second date should show as the event runs for more than one day but on this page it should NOT show as the date is identical (but the time is not of course).

use date formatting in the if statement, the same way you are changing the format to display it on the page:

<?php if ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']!="" ||  date("j m Y", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'])) !=  date(j m Y", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'])) ){ ?>

Thanks Jason. It looks like I should have known that! :)

Haven't tried it yet but I will soon and report back.

no worries.

No, doesn't work :(

It occurred to me that the code should refer to how the date is set out in the database "Y-m-d" so I altered that but it still doesn't work.

This is the code that I now have on the site

<?php if ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']!="" || date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'])) !=  date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'])) ){ ?>

I'm sure it must be something simple that I'm missing here.

that doesn't make any sense.


try echoing whats being compared:

<?php echo("start date: ".date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']))."|end date: ".date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date']))); ?>

what's that give?

It returns this:

start date: 2010-09-24|end date: 2010-09-24

You can see it here

it's the if statement

<?php if ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']!="" || date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'])) !=  date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'])) ){ ?>

the says:
if the end date is not blank OR the end date does not equal the start date.

since the end date is not blank, the condition is met. use AND instead:

<?php if ($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date']!="" && date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['end_date'])) !=  date("Y-m-d", strtotime($row_rsCiviEventResults['start_date'])) ){ ?>

I said it was something simple :). I did try that before but before you put me right with the strtotime part.

Yes that worked. Well done. Many thanks as always.

you're welcome.