what is the correct way to compare dates in a WP query_posts meta_query

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I have a query_posts call in a WP template. Through the use of the More Fields Plugin I can give the site admin the ability to create an event (custom post type) and then enter a date which is formatted: YYYY/mm/dd.

The main question is; what value should I pass to the value option in the meta_query array? I am currently trying to pass “date(“Y/m/d h:i A”)” (minus the quotes), because, as I understand it, that will print the current date today. I don’t care about the time of date so that may be irrelevant. Ulitimatly I am trying to use the compare option to nail down showing upcoming events, past events in different places on this site. In one other spot I actually need to pass the value option an array that prints that first and last day of the current month, limiting the output to events happening this month. 

<?php 
            query_posts( array( 
              'post_type'  => 'event',        // only query events
              'meta_key'    => 'event_date',  // load up the event_date meta
              'orderby'     => 'meta_value',  // sort by the event_date
              'order'       => 'asc',         // ascending, so earlier events first
              'posts_per_page' => '2',
              'meta_query'  => array(         // restrict posts based on meta values
                  'key'     => 'event_date',  // which meta to query
                  'value'   => date("Y/m/d h:i A"),  // value for comparison
                  'compare' => '>=',          // method of comparison
                  'type'    => 'DATE'         // datatype, we don't want to compare the string values
                ) // end meta_query array
              ) // end array
            ); // close query_posts call
                 ?>
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4 comments

  1. I wound up working on the exact same thing and this post was very helpful. I used Custom Fields and here is the code that I used to create a list of all events greater than the current date. Note the extra taxonomy based filters.

    <?php // Let's get the data we need to loop through below

$events = new WP_Query( 
    array(
        'post_type' => 'event', // Tell WordPress which post type we want
        'orderby' => 'meta_value', // We want to organize the events by date    
        'meta_key' => 'event-start-date', // Grab the "start date" field created via "More Fields" plugin (stored in YYYY-MM-DD format)
        'order' => 'ASC', // ASC is the other option    
        'posts_per_page' => '-1', // Let's show them all.   
        'meta_query' => array( // WordPress has all the results, now, return only the events after today's date
            array(
                'key' => 'event-start-date', // Check the start date field
                'value' => date("Y-m-d"), // Set today's date (note the similar format)
                'compare' => '>=', // Return the ones greater than today's date
                'type' => 'DATE' // Let WordPress know we're working with date
                )
            ),
        'tax_query' => array( // Return only concerts (event-types) and events where "songs-of-ascent" is performing
            array(
                'taxonomy' => 'event-types',
                'field' => 'slug',
                'terms' => 'concert',
                ),
            array(
                'taxonomy' => 'speakers',
                'field' => 'slug',
                'terms' => 'songs-of-ascent',
                )
            )
        )
    );
?>

  2. It largely depends on how your date is stored in the meta value in the first place. In general, it is a good idea to store dates in MySQL as MySQL dates/timestamps.

    MySQL timestamps have the format Y-m-d h:i:s.

    However, it is always a good idea to use WP’s own date mangling functions. As such, to get the current date in MySQL format, use current_time('mysql').

    To format a MySQL date for display, use mysql2date($format, $mysql_date).
    In this case it is best to display the date as configured in the settings, so use $format = get_option('date_format');.

    To store a user-selected date, you’ll have to transcode it into a MySQL date. To do so, the easiest – but not safest – way is date('Y-m-d h:i:s', $unix_timestamp);. $unix_timestamp can often be derived via strtotime($user_input).

    However, strtotime() doesn’t do sanity checks on it’s own, so it’s best to write your own converstion function.

    As for getting the month range, here’s a function i’m using to get the month boundaries for any MySQL timestamp:

    function get_monthrange($time) {
    $ym = date("Y-m", strtotime($time));
    $start = $ym."-01";
    $ym = explode("-", $ym);
    if ($ym[1] == 12) {
        $ym[0]++; $ym[1] = 1;
    } else {
        $ym[1]++;
    }
    $d = mktime( 0, 0, 0, $ym[1], 1, $ym[0] );
    $d -= 86400;
    $end = date("Y-m-d", $d);
    return array( $start, $end );
}

    If you want to get the week boundaries, WP already comes with a function for that: get_weekstartend($time);, which also delivers the boundaries as an array.

    You can then use these in your meta_query argument by doing two separate comparisons.

  3. I wound up going with the following. I setup a event-momth field and comparing from there. thanks for the help

    <?php 
        $event_query = new WP_Query(
        array( 
          'post_type'   => 'event',        // only query events
          'meta_key'    => 'event-month',  // load up the event_date meta
          'order_by'        => 'event_date',
          'order'       => 'asc',         // ascending, so earlier events first
          'meta_query'  => array(
             array(         // restrict posts based on meta values
              'key'     => 'event-month',  // which meta to query
              'value'   => date("n"),  // value for comparison
              'compare' => '=',          // method of comparison
              'type'    => 'NUMERIC'         // datatype, we don't want to compare the string values
            ) // meta_query is an array of query ites
           ) // end meta_query array
          ) // end array
        ); // close WP_Query constructor call

 ?>
   <?php while($event_query->have_posts()): $event_query->the_post(); //loop for events ?>

  4. Hi below I am posting my solution. Where I have stored date in Y-m-d H:i format (like 2013-07-31 16:45).

    • Sorted according to Event start date.

    • Event which ending after Today will be queried only by meta_query.

      date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Calcutta');

    I set default time zone for date() function.

    $args = array(
    'posts_per_page'  => 3,
    'orderby'         => 'meta_value',
    'meta_key'    => 'event_start_date_time',
    'order'           => 'ASC',
    'post_type'       => 'events',
    'meta_query' => array(
      array(
        'key' => 'event_end_date_time',
        'value' => date("Y-m-d H:i"),
        'compare' => '>=',
        'type' => 'DATE'
        )
      )
    ); 
query_posts( $args );

if( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();