Are PHP DateInterval comparable like DateTime?

I discovered that a DateTime object in PHP can be compared to another as the ">" and "<" operators are overloaded.

Is it the same with DateInterval?

As I was trying to answer this question, I found something strange:

<?php 

$today = new DateTime();
$release  = new DateTime('14-02-2012');
$building_time = new DateInterval('P15D');
var_dump($today->diff($release));
var_dump($building_time);
var_dump($today->diff($release)>$building_time);
var_dump($today->diff($release)<$building_time);
if($today->diff($release) < $building_time){
    echo 'oK';
}else{
    echo 'Just a test';
}

It always echoes "Just a test". The var_dump outputs are:

object(DateInterval)#4 (8) {
  ["y"]=>
  int(0)
  ["m"]=>
  int(0)
  ["d"]=>
  int(18)
  ["h"]=>
  int(16)
  ["i"]=>
  int(49)
  ["s"]=>
  int(19)
  ["invert"]=>
  int(1)
  ["days"]=>
  int(18)
}
object(DateInterval)#3 (8) {
  ["y"]=>
  int(0)
  ["m"]=>
  int(0)
  ["d"]=>
  int(15)
  ["h"]=>
  int(0)
  ["i"]=>
  int(0)
  ["s"]=>
  int(0)
  ["invert"]=>
  int(0)
  ["days"]=>
  bool(false)
}
bool(false)
bool(true)

When I try with a DateTime as "01-03-2012" everything works.

Solution

Looks like there was a related bug/feature request, not sure if that ever made it in the trunk. It's not documented (that I Can find) either way - so probably not safe to use.

That said, after some testing it seems that they can be compared, but only after they've been 'evaluated' in some way (doing a var dump changes the outcome). Here's my test/result:

<?php
$int15 = new DateInterval('P15D');
$int20 = new DateInterval('P20D');

var_dump($int15 > $int20); //should be false;
var_dump($int20 > $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 < $int20); //should be true;
var_dump($int20 < $int15); //should be false;

var_dump($int15);
var_dump($int20);

var_dump($int15 > $int20); //should be false;
var_dump($int20 > $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 < $int20); //should be true;
var_dump($int20 < $int15); //should be false;

$date = new DateTime();
$diff = $date->diff(new DateTime("+10 days"));

var_dump($int15 < $diff); //should be false;
var_dump($diff < $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 > $diff); //should be true;
var_dump($diff > $int15); //should be false;

var_dump($diff);

var_dump($int15 < $diff); //should be false;
var_dump($diff < $int15); //should be true;

var_dump($int15 > $diff); //should be true;
var_dump($diff > $int15); //should be false;

Result (I've omitted the full dumps of the interval objects):

bool(false)
bool(false)
bool(false)
bool(false)
object(DateInterval)#1 (8) {...}
object(DateInterval)#2 (8) {...}
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)

bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)
object(DateInterval)#5 (8) {...}
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)