PHP - Determine if the date is in the future using DateTime Object

Question

I am trying to determine whether a date is in the future or not, using DateTime objects but it always comes back positive:

$opening_date = new DateTime($current_store['openingdate']);
$current_date = new DateTime();
$diff = $opening_date->diff($current_date);
echo $diff->format('%R'); // +

if($diff->format('%R') == '+' && $current_store['openingdate'] != '0000-00-00' && $current_store['openingdate'] !== NULL) {
    echo '<img id="openingsoon" src="/img/misc/openingsoon.jpg" alt="OPENING SOON" />';
}

The problem is it's always positive so the image shows when it shouldn't be.

I must be doing something stupid, but what is it, it's driving me insane!

Answer 1

It's easier than you think. You can do comparisons with DateTime objects:

$opening_date = new DateTime($current_store['openingdate']); $current_date = new DateTime();  if ($opening_date > $current_date) {   // not open yet! } 

Answer 2

You don't need a DateTime object for this. Try this:

$now = time();
if(strtotime($current_store['openingdate']) > $now) {
     // then it is in the future
}