Validators

Date Comparison Validator

Laminas\Validator\DateComparison allows you to validate if a given value is a date that is either:

• Between two pre defined dates
• After a minimum date
• Before a maximum date

By default, comparisons are inclusive.

Supported Options

The following options are supported for Laminas\Validator\DateComparison:

Min and Max Date Options

The min and max options when set must be one of the following:

• An object that implements DateTimeInterface
• A date string in ISO format, YYYY-MM-DD, i.e. '2020-01-31'
• A date and time string in W3C format, YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS, i.e. '2020-01-31T12:34:56'

At least one of min, max or both must be provided as an option or an exception will be thrown. It doesn't make sense to use this validator without specifying the boundaries to compare the input to.

Default Behaviour

Per default, this validator checks if a value is between min and max where both upper and lower bounds are considered valid.

$valid  = new Laminas\Validator\DateComparison([
    'min' => '2020-01-01',
    'max' => '2020-12-31',
]);
$value  = '2020-01-01';
$result = $valid->isValid($value);
// returns true

In the above example, the result is true due to the reason that the default search is inclusive of the border values. This means in our case that any date between '1st January 2020' to '31st December 2020' is allowed; any other valid date will return false.

Min and Max Behaviour

In order to validate a date that is after than a lower bound, either omit the max option, or set it explicitly to null:

$validator = new Laminas\Validator\DateComparison([
    'min' => '2020-01-01',
    'max' => null,
]);
$validator->isValid('2020-02-03'); // true

Conversely, to ensure a date is prior to an upper bound, omit the min option or explicitly set it to null:

$validator = new Laminas\Validator\DateComparison(['max' => '2020-12-31']);
$validator->isValid('2024-06-07'); // false

Validity of Date Inputs

In order to compare dates correctly, the validator converts the input to a DateTimeInterface object, therefore, it must be possible to parse string input as a valid date.

Because it is likely that the validator will be paired with some kind of web form, known formats returned by <input type="datetime-local"> or <input type="date"> are always supported without further configuration. For example:

$validator = new Laminas\Validator\DateComparison([
    'min' => '2020-01-01',
]);

$validator->isValid('2020-03-04'); // true
$validator->isValid('2020-01-01T12:34:56'); // true

If you have inputs in your application where you expect dates to be provided in a different format such as l jS F Y, you can use the inputFormat option to specify this:

$validator = new Laminas\Validator\DateComparison([
    'min' => '2020-01-01',
    'inputFormat' => 'l jS F Y',
]);
$validator->isValid('Wednesday 1st January 2020'); // true

Time Zones

Time zones for the min and max options, and for the validated value are discarded and all dates are compared as UTC date-times.

$africa = new DateTimeZone('Africa/Johannesburg');

$lower = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 10:00:00', $africa);
$upper = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 12:00:00', $africa);

$validator = new Laminas\Validator\DateComparison([
    'min' => $lower,
    'max' => $upper,
]);

$usa = new DateTimeZone('America/New_York');
$input = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 10:45:00', $usa);

$validator->isValid($input); // true

In the above example, the validated value is considered as 2020-01-01 10:45:00 in any timezone, and it is between the lower bound of 2020-01-01 10:00:00 and the upper bound of 2020-01-01 12:00:00