compare dates

Hi EE

I have If date1< date 2 do something.
Date1 = 06-nov-2015
Date2 = 01-Jan-2016
My question why  is Date1 coming up as greater than date two.
Any help appreciated

chestera
chesteraAsked:
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PatHartmanCommented:
Because you have formatted the date and formatting a date turns it into a string which makes it behave like a string and not like a date.  Strings are compared character by character, left to right so - 0 = 0 but 6 > 1 and the compare stops at that point.  Dates are actually numeric data types and so they are compared as numbers.  The two arguments are aligned at the decimal point and the compare goes right to left on the significant digits and left to right on the decimal portion.

The bottom line is:
NEVER format a date EXCEPT for display purposes.  ALWAYS use dates in their natural data types for sorting or comparisons.

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chesteraAuthor Commented:
Pathartman

Thank you for that info

Alan
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