Question

I would like to compare a date to the current date in Django, preferably in the template, but it is also possible to do before rendering the template. If the date has already passed, I want to say “In the past” while if it is in the future, I want to give the date.

I was hoping one could do something like this:

{% if listing.date <= now %} 
     In the past 
{% else %} 
     {{ listing.date|date:"d M Y" }} 
{% endif %}

With now being today’s date, but this does not work. I couldn’t find anything about this in the Django docs. Can anyone give some advice?

Answer 1

Compare date in the view, and pass something like in_the_past (boolean) to the extra_context.

Or better add it to the model as a property.

from datetime import date

@property
def is_past_due(self):
    return date.today() > self.date

Then in the template:

{% if listing.is_past_due %}
    In the past
{% else %}
    {{ listing.date|date:"d M Y" }}
{% endif %}

Basically the template is not the place for date comparison IMO.