Date Comparing

[xtravel]

I am trying to develop a small program using PHP & MySQL, which compare dates with a database of Start Date & End Date where a number is assigned to each.

When a user enters a Start Date & End Date the program should look thought the database and then output the value assigned to the selected dates.

Database

01-06-2003 till 30-06-2003 => 1
01-07-2003 till 25-07-2003 => 2
26-07-2003 till 05-08-2003 => 3
06-08-2003 till 30-08-2003 => 4

User will input two dates, which will be a start date & end date

Example 1, User Inputs

Start Date: 02-07-2003
End Date: 15-07-2003

Answer Should be:

• 02-07-2003 till 15-07-2003 => 2

Example 2, User Inputs

Start Date: 23-07-2003
End Date: 29-07-2003

Answer Should be:

• 23-07-2003 till 25-07-2003 => 2
• 26-07-2003 till 29-07-2003 => 3

I am thinking of an easy way of doing this, can anyone help me?

chao, xxtravel

[cyclops]

you should do :

SELECT * FROM database
WHERE datefield
BETWEEN '$startdate' AND '$enddate'

[xtravel]

thx, cyclops

still i am not sure how i can do it, i have tried your idea, but no luck yet!

chao, xtravel

[agoe]

You should store the dates as unix-timestamps. There's an article here at phpbuilder which shows how to create dates and find the difference between two dates.

http://phpbuilder.com/columns/akent20000610.php3

[xtravel]

why can't anyone give me a good reply to my post?

[seby]

because life is so much easier if you use store the time in mysql in *nix format using time();

Not only is it easier, its much more efficient.
Why start coding 10 lines when you can do it all in 1?

That alone will make your scripts faster, and efficient.

Seriously,. though, there is nothing as good as time(); and the many other functions that can be combined with it to make something cool! 🙂

just a suggestion.