How to compare DateTime in C#?

Microsoft has also implemented the operators '<' and '>'. So you use these to compare two dates.

if (date1 < DateTime.Now)
   Console.WriteLine("Less than the current time!");

MSDN: DateTime.Compare

DateTime date1 = new DateTime(2009, 8, 1, 0, 0, 0);
DateTime date2 = new DateTime(2009, 8, 1, 12, 0, 0);
int result = DateTime.Compare(date1, date2);
string relationship;

if (result < 0)
   relationship = "is earlier than";
else if (result == 0)
   relationship = "is the same time as";         
else
   relationship = "is later than";

Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2}", date1, relationship, date2);
// The example displays the following output:
//    8/1/2009 12:00:00 AM is earlier than 8/1/2009 12:00:00 PM

MuSTaNG's answer says it all, but I am still adding it to make it a little more elaborate, with links and all.


The conventional operators

  • greater than (>),
  • less than (<),
  • equality (==),
  • and more

are available for DateTime since .NET Framework 1.1. Also, addition and subtraction of DateTime objects are also possible using conventional operators + and -.

One example from MSDN:

Equality:
System.DateTime april19 = new DateTime(2001, 4, 19);
System.DateTime otherDate = new DateTime(1991, 6, 5);

// areEqual gets false.
bool areEqual = april19 == otherDate;

otherDate = new DateTime(2001, 4, 19);
// areEqual gets true.
areEqual = april19 == otherDate;

Other operators can be used likewise.

Here is the list all operators available for DateTime.