What is the best way to compare dates in PHP?

When comparing dates in PHP, it's important to convert the dates to a common format, such as Unix timestamp, to ensure accurate comparisons. This can be done using the strtotime() function in PHP. Once the dates are converted to timestamps, you can compare them using comparison operators like <, >, or ==.

$date1 = "2022-01-01";
$date2 = "2022-01-15";

$timestamp1 = strtotime($date1);
$timestamp2 = strtotime($date2);

if ($timestamp1 < $timestamp2) {
    echo "Date 1 is before Date 2";
} elseif ($timestamp1 > $timestamp2) {
    echo "Date 1 is after Date 2";
} else {
    echo "Date 1 is the same as Date 2";
}