How to make this code more efficient instead of having so many elseif statements?

Question

Instead of this:

if($today >= $dateOne && $dateOne != '0000-00-00')
    {
    run some code
    }
elseif($today >= $dateTwo && $dateTwo != '0000-00-00')
    {
    run some code
    }
elseif($today >= $dateThree && $dateThree != '0000-00-00')
    {
    run some code
    }
elseif($today >= $dateFour && $dateFour != '0000-00-00')
    {
    run some code
    }
else
    {
    run this code
    }

...which goes up to $dateEleven, is there a better why to do this? I figure there has to be a better way than to have all of these elseif statements.

Answer 1

$dates = Array( 1 => $dateOne, 2 => $dateTwo, ... );
foreach($dates as $key => $date) {
  if($today > $date && $date != '0000-00-00') {
      $date_key = $key;
      break ; // exit loop
  }
}
switch($date_key) {
   case 1:
      // code 1
      break;
   case 2:
      // code 2
      break;
   case 3:
      // code 3
      break;
   case 4:
   case 5:
      // etc.
      break;
}

Answer 2

You only have one variable that's actually changing. I don't know know where this is from, but you could put them all into some kind of datastructure, such as an array, and write a loop which does exactly what you want it to do.

Whenever you run into a situation like this, look at what you have and what actually changes. A loop is generally somewhere where you would want to start looking if you're trying to solve anthing like this.

Answer 3

well, if all dates can be '0000-00-00', a loop is unavoidable.

$dates = array($dateOne, $dateTwo ...);
foreach ($dates as $date) {
    if($today >= $date && $dateOne != '0000-00-00') {
        // run some code
        break;
    }
}

However, if these dates are coming from mysql database, you have to use a query to determine if you have to run some code or not.

So, you'd better describe a real life task you're trying to achieve and then get an answer right from the SQL query.

Say, it should be like

SELECT min(date) FROM table WHERE date <> '0000-00-00' AND [other conditions]

and then just compare the returned value, something like this

if ($row && $today >= $row['date']) {

Answer 4

function validate($date) {
    return $today >= $date && $date != '0000-00-00';
}

$dates = [$dateOne, $dateTwo, $dateThree, $dateFour];

if(count($filtered = array_filter($dates, 'validate'))) {
    $date = $filtered[0]; // This is the date that triggered the first IF in your code
    // run some code
}
else {
    // run this code
}