Question

I have the php code below comparing two times against the current time using strtotime:

 $timingsfirstTime[0] = date("H:i:s", strtotime(trim($showTimings[0])));
 $timingslastTime[2] = date("H:i:s", strtotime(trim($showTimings[2])));

// Confirm that the start time of the frist show is greater than the last time of last show on the channel

        $current_time = date("H:i:s",strtotime('now'));

        $this->assertTrue(($current_time > $timingsfirstTime[0] && $current_time < $timingslastTime[2]),"current time ".$current_time. " is not greater than current show start time ". $timingsfirstTime[0] . " or current time is not less than current show end time ".$timingslastTime[2]); 

But my the assertion fails somehow and outputs:

current time 00:38:45 is not greater than current show start time 23:50:00 or current time is not less than current show end time 00:50:00

Answer 1

You’re doing string comparisons, not date comparisons, which is why it’s “failing”.

Use DateTime instead, since it’s easier to read, less code, and can be compared natively. I would also split your assertion into two assertions to make it easier to tell what case failed:

$now = new DateTime();
$start = new DateTime($showTimings[0]);
$end = new DateTime($showTimings[2]);

$this->assertTrue(
    $now > $start,
    'current time ' . $now->format('H:i:s')
        . ' is not greater than current show start time '
        . $start->format('H:i:s')
);

$this->assertTrue(
    $now < $end,
    'current time ' . $now->format('H:i:s')
        . ' is not less than current show end time '
        . $end->format('H:i:s')
);