How to compare two dates in Objective-C

Question

I have two dates  2009-05-11 and the current date  I want to check whether the given date is the current date or not  How is this possible

User · Answer

What you really need is to compare two objects of the same kind.

Create an NSDate out of your string date (@"2009-05-11") :
http://blog.evandavey.com/2008/12/how-to-convert-a-string-to-nsdate.html
If the current date is a string too, make it an NSDate. If its already an NSDate, leave it.

User · Answer

This category offers a neat way to compare NSDates    import  lt Foundation Foundation h gt    interface NSDate  Compare   - BOOL  isLaterThanOrEqualTo  NSDate  date  - BOOL  isEarlierThanOrEqualTo  NSDate  date  - BOOL  isLaterThan  NSDate  date  - BOOL  isEarlierThan  NSDate  date    -  BOOL isEqualToDate  NSDate   date  already part of the NSDate API   end   And the implementation    import  NSDate Compare h    implementation NSDate  Compare   - BOOL  isLaterThanOrEqualTo  NSDate  date       return    self compare date     NSOrderedAscending      - BOOL  isEarlierThanOrEqualTo  NSDate  date       return    self compare date     NSOrderedDescending     - BOOL  isLaterThan  NSDate  date       return   self compare date     NSOrderedDescending      - BOOL  isEarlierThan  NSDate  date       return   self compare date     NSOrderedAscending       end   Simple to use   if  aDateYouWantToCompare isEarlierThanOrEqualTo  NSDate date        NSDate date  is now          do your thing

User · Answer

Here s the Swift variant on Pascal s answer   extension NSDate        func isLaterThanOrEqualTo date NSDate  - gt  Bool           return   self compare date     NSComparisonResult OrderedAscending             func isEarlierThanOrEqualTo date NSDate  - gt  Bool           return   self compare date     NSComparisonResult OrderedDescending             func isLaterThan date NSDate  - gt  Bool           return  self compare date     NSComparisonResult OrderedDescending             func isEarlierThan date NSDate  - gt  Bool           return  self compare date     NSComparisonResult OrderedAscending            Which can be used as   self expireDate isEarlierThanOrEqualTo NSDate

User · Answer

NSString  date     2009-05-11  NSString  nowDate      NSDate date description substringToIndex  10   if  date isEqualToString  nowDate        your code

User · Answer

The best way I found was to check the difference between the given date and today   NSCalendar  calendar    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSDate  now    NSDate date   int differenceInDays    calendar ordinalityOfUnit NSCalendarUnitDay inUnit NSCalendarUnitEra forDate date  -  calendar ordinalityOfUnit NSCalendarUnitDay inUnit NSCalendarUnitEra forDate now     According to Listing 13 of Calendrical Calculations in Apple s Date and Time Programming Guide  NSCalendar ordinalityOfUnit NSDayCalendarUnit inUnit  NSEraCalendarUnit forDate myDate  gives you the number of midnights since the start of the era  This way it s easy to check whether the date is yesterday  today  or tomorrow   switch  differenceInDays        case -1          dayString     Yesterday           break      case 0          dayString     Today           break      case 1          dayString     Tomorrow           break      default            NSDateFormatter  dayFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init            dayFormatter setLocale usLocale            dayFormatter setDateFormat   dd MMM            dayString    dayFormatter stringFromDate  date           break

User · Answer

By this method also you can compare two dates  NSDate   dateOne    NSDate date   NSDate   dateTwo    NSDate date    if  dateOne compare dateTwo     NSOrderedAscending

User · Answer

Here s the function from Naveed Rafi s answer converted to Swift if anyone else is looking for it   func isSameDate  date1  NSDate  date2  NSDate  - gt  Bool       let calendar   NSCalendar       let date1comp   calendar components  YearCalendarUnit    MonthCalendarUnit    DayCalendarUnit  fromDate  date1      let date2comp   calendar components  YearCalendarUnit    MonthCalendarUnit    DayCalendarUnit  fromDate  date2      return  date1comp year    date2comp year   amp  amp   date1comp month    date2comp month   amp  amp   date1comp day    date2comp day

User · Answer

NSDateFormatter  df    NSDateFormatter alloc  init     df setDateFormat   yyyy-MM-dd     NSDate  dt1     NSDate alloc  init    NSDate  dt2     NSDate alloc  init    dt1  df dateFromString   2011-02-25     dt2  df dateFromString   2011-03-25     NSComparisonResult result    dt1 compare dt2    switch  result             case NSOrderedAscending  NSLog      is greater than      dt2  dt1   break           case NSOrderedDescending  NSLog      is less      dt2  dt1   break           case NSOrderedSame  NSLog      is equal to      dt2  dt1   break           default  NSLog   erorr dates          dt2  dt1   break       Enjoy coding

User · Answer

In Cocoa  to compare dates  use one of isEqualToDate  compare  laterDate  and earlierDate methods on NSDate objects  instantiated with the dates you need   Documentation  http   developer apple com documentation Cocoa Reference Foundation Classes NSDate Class Reference Reference html   apple ref occ instm NSDate isEqualToDate  http   developer apple com documentation Cocoa Reference Foundation Classes NSDate Class Reference Reference html   apple ref occ instm NSDate earlierDate  http   developer apple com documentation Cocoa Reference Foundation Classes NSDate Class Reference Reference html   apple ref occ instm NSDate laterDate  http   developer apple com documentation Cocoa Reference Foundation Classes NSDate Class Reference Reference html   apple ref occ instm NSDate compare

User · Answer

Here buddy  This function will match your date with any specific date and will be able to tell whether they match or not  You can also modify the components to match your requirements   -  BOOL isSameDay  NSDate  date1 otherDay  NSDate  date2   NSCalendar  calendar    NSCalendar currentCalendar    unsigned unitFlags   NSYearCalendarUnit   NSMonthCalendarUnit    NSDayCalendarUnit  NSDateComponents  comp1    calendar components unitFlags fromDate date1   NSDateComponents  comp2    calendar components unitFlags fromDate date2    return  comp1 day        comp2 day   amp  amp   comp1 month      comp2 month   amp  amp   comp1 year       comp2 year      Regards  Naveed Butt

User · Answer

Cocoa has couple of methods for this   in NSDate      isEqualToDate        earlierDate        laterDate        compare    When you use -  NSComparisonResult compare  NSDate   anotherDate  you get back one of these   The receiver and anotherDate are exactly equal to each other  NSOrderedSame The receiver is later in time than anotherDate  NSOrderedDescending The receiver is earlier in time than anotherDate  NSOrderedAscending    example   NSDate   now    NSDate date   NSDate   mile     NSDate alloc  initWithString   2001-03-24 10 45 32  0600    NSComparisonResult result    now compare mile    NSLog        now   NSLog        mile    switch  result        case NSOrderedAscending  NSLog      is in future from      mile  now   break      case NSOrderedDescending  NSLog      is in past from      mile  now   break      case NSOrderedSame  NSLog      is the same as      mile  now   break      default  NSLog   erorr dates          mile  now   break      mile release

User · Answer

NSDate  today    NSDate date      it will give you current date NSDate  newDate    NSDate dateWithString   xxxxxx       your date   NSComparisonResult result     has three possible values  NSOrderedSame NSOrderedDescending  NSOrderedAscending  result    today compare newDate      comparing two dates  if result  NSOrderedAscending      NSLog   today is less    else if result  NSOrderedDescending      NSLog   newDate is less    else     NSLog   Both dates are same      There are other ways that you may use to compare an NSDate objects  Each of the methods will be more efficient at certain tasks  I have chosen the compare method because it will handle most of your basic date comparison needs

User · Answer

If you make both dates NSDates you can use NSDate s compare  method   NSComparisonResult result    Date2 compare Date1    if result  NSOrderedAscending      NSLog   Date1 is in the future    else if result  NSOrderedDescending      NSLog   Date1 is in the past    else     NSLog   Both dates are the same      You can take a look at the docs here

User · Answer

Get Today s Date   NSDate  date    NSDate date    Create a Date From Scratch      NSDateComponents  comps     NSDateComponents alloc init   comps year   2015  comps month   12  comps day   31  NSCalendar  calendar    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSDate  date    calendar dateFromComponents comps     Add a day to a Date    NSDate  date    NSDate date   NSDateComponents  comps     NSDateComponents alloc init   comps day   1  NSCalendar  calendar    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSDate  tomorrow    calendar dateByAddingComponents comps toDate date options nil     Subtract a day from a Date      NSDate  date    NSDate date   NSDateComponents  comps     NSDateComponents alloc init   comps day   -1  NSCalendar  calendar    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSDate  yesterday    calendar dateByAddingComponents comps toDate date options nil      Convert a Date to a String     NSDate  date    NSDate date   NSDateFormatter  formatter     NSDateFormatter alloc init   formatter dateFormat     MMMM dd  yyyy   NSString  dateString    formatter stringFromDate date     Convert a String to a Date   NSDateFormatter  formatter     NSDateFormatter alloc init   formatter dateFormat     MMMM dd  yyyy   NSDate  date    formatter dateFromString   August 02  2014      Find how many days are in a month      NSDate  date    NSDate date   NSCalendar  cal    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSRange currentRange    cal rangeOfUnit NSDayCalendarUnit inUnit NSMonthCalendarUnit forDate date   NSInteger numberOfDays   currentRange length    Calculate how much time something took      NSDate  start    NSDate date   for int i   0  i  lt  1000000000  i     NSDate  end    NSDate date   NSTimeInterval duration    end timeIntervalSinceDate start     Find the Day Of Week for a specific Date   NSDate  date    NSDate date   NSCalendar  cal    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSInteger dow    cal ordinalityOfUnit NSWeekdayCalendarUnit inUnit NSWeekCalendarUnit forDate date     Then use NSComparisonResult to compare date

[objective-c] How to compare two dates in Objective-C

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