Check if date is before current date (Swift) - ios

Question

I would like to check if a NSDate is before (in the past) by comparing it to the current date. How would I do this?
Thanks

Answer 1

I find the earlierDate method.
if date1.earlierDate(date2).isEqualToDate(date1) {
print("date1 is earlier than date2")
}
You also have the laterDate method.
Swift 3 to swift 5:
if date1 < date2 {
print("date1 is earlier than date2")
}

Answer 2

There is a simple way to do that. (Swift 3 is even more simple, check at end of answer)
Swift code:
if myDate.timeIntervalSinceNow.isSignMinus {
//myDate is earlier than Now (date and time)
} else {
//myDate is equal or after than Now (date and time)
}
If you need compare date without time ("MM/dd/yyyy").
Swift code:
//Ref date
let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy"
let someDate = dateFormatter.dateFromString("03/10/2015")
//Get calendar
let calendar = NSCalendar.currentCalendar()
//Get just MM/dd/yyyy from current date
let flags = NSCalendarUnit.CalendarUnitDay | NSCalendarUnit.CalendarUnitMonth | NSCalendarUnit.CalendarUnitYear
let components = calendar.components(flags, fromDate: NSDate())
//Convert to NSDate
let today = calendar.dateFromComponents(components)
if someDate!.timeIntervalSinceDate(today!).isSignMinus {
//someDate is berofe than today
} else {
//someDate is equal or after than today
}
Apple docs link here.
Edit 1: Important
From Swift 3 migration notes:
The migrator is conservative but there are some uses of NSDate that have better representations in Swift 3:
(x as NSDate).earlierDate(y) can be changed to x < y ? x : y
(x as NSDate).laterDate(y) can be changed to x < y ? y : x
So, in Swift 3 you be able to use comparison operators.

Answer 3

If you need to compare one date with now without creation of new Date object you can simply use this in Swift 3:
if (futureDate.timeIntervalSinceNow.sign == .plus) {
// date is in future
}
and
if (dateInPast.timeIntervalSinceNow.sign == .minus) {
// date is in past
}

Answer 4

You don't need to extend NSDate here, just use "compare" as illustrated in the docs.
For example, in Swift:
if currentDate.compare(myDate) == NSComparisonResult.OrderedDescending {
println("myDate is earlier than currentDate")
}

Answer 5

You can extend NSDate to conform to the Equatable and Comparable protocols. These are comparison protocols in Swift and allow the familiar comparison operators (==, <, > etc.) to work with dates. Put the following in a suitably named file, e.g. NSDate+Comparison.swift in your project:
extension NSDate: Equatable {}
extension NSDate: Comparable {}
public func ==(lhs: NSDate, rhs: NSDate) -> Bool {
return lhs.timeIntervalSince1970 == rhs.timeIntervalSince1970
}
public func <(lhs: NSDate, rhs: NSDate) -> Bool {
return lhs.timeIntervalSince1970 < rhs.timeIntervalSince1970
}
Now you can check if one date is before another with standard comparison operators.
let date1 = NSDate(timeIntervalSince1970: 30)
let date2 = NSDate()
if date1 < date2 {
print("ok")
}
For information on extensions in Swift see here. For information on the Equatable and Comparable protocols see here and here, respectively.
Note: In this instance we're not creating custom operators, merely extending an existing type to support existing operators.

Answer 6

Here is an extension in Swift to check if the date is past date.
extension Date {
var isPastDate: Bool {
return self < Date()
}
}
Usage:
let someDate = Date().addingTimeInterval(1)
DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 3) {
print(date.isPastDate)
}

Answer 7

In Swift5
let nextDay = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: Date())
let toDay = Date()
print(toDay)
print(nextDay!)
if nextDay! < toDay {
print("date1 is earlier than date2")
}
let nextDay = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .month, value: 1, to: Date())
let toDay = Date()
print(toDay)
print(nextDay!)
if nextDay! >= toDay {
print("date2 is earlier than date1")
}

Answer 8

In Swift 4 you can use this code
if endDate.timeIntervalSince(startDate).sign == FloatingPointSign.minus {
// endDate is in past
}

Answer 9

we can use < for checking date:
if myDate < Date() {
}

Answer 10

Since Swift 3, Dates are comparable so
if date1 < date2 { // do something }
They're also comparable so you can compare with == if you want.

Answer 11

Upgrading Vagner's answer to Swift 5:
import Foundation
//Ref date
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy"
//Get calendar
let calendar = NSCalendar.current
//Get just MM/dd/yyyy from current date
let flags: Set<Calendar.Component> = [Calendar.Component.day, Calendar.Component.month, Calendar.Component.year]
let components = calendar.dateComponents(flags, from: Date())
//Convert to NSDate
if let today = calendar.date(from: components), let someDate = dateFormatter.date(from: "03/10/2015"), someDate.timeIntervalSince(today).sign == .minus {
//someDate is berofe than today
} else {
//someDate is equal or after than today
}

Answer 12

Made a quick Swift 2.3 function out of this
// if you omit last parameter you comare with today
// use "11/20/2016" for 20 nov 2016
func dateIsBefore(customDate:String, referenceDate:String="today") -> Bool {
let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy"
let myDate = dateFormatter.dateFromString(customDate)
let refDate = referenceDate == "today"
? NSDate()
: dateFormatter.dateFromString(referenceDate)
if NSDate().compare(myDate!) == NSComparisonResult.OrderedDescending {
return false
} else {
return true
}
}
Use it like this to see if your date is before today's date
if dateIsBefore("12/25/2016") {
print("Not Yet Christmas 2016 :(")
} else {
print("Christmas Or Later!")
}
Or with a custom reference date
if dateIsBefore("12/25/2016", referenceDate:"12/31/2016") {
print("Christmas comes before new years!")
} else {
print("Something is really wrong with the world...")
}