Compare Dates

These functions provide tools for comparing two date values. Many of these functions process and return the information as a Boolean value which can be used to create personalization rules or selection criteria.

Several examples use ecm:toDate to convert a string into a date. See Extract and Format Dates and Times.

Function Overview

ecm:equal

The function ecm:equal determines whether two specified dates are equal. The comparison is exact to the millisecond. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

A selection sends a welcome message to contacts on the day they signed up for a newsletter. The sign-up date is stored in the custom attribute WelcomeDate.

The function ecm:trunc resets the time component of both the current date and the attribute value to zero. The function ecm:equal can then compare the two dates, because the time component no longer affects the result. The expression is constructed as follows:

${ecm:equal(ecm:trunc(user.CustomAttribute['WelcomeDate'], 'time'), ecm:trunc(date.Today, 'time'))}

Structure

ecm:equal(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:greater

The function ecm:greater determines whether a specified date is greater than a reference date. The comparison is exact to the millisecond. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

The message is scheduled for sendout on April 5, 2011. Content is displayed to recipients born after April 5, 1981. These recipients are younger than 30 on the day of the sendout.

The content is inserted into the message with an InsertIf statement, which is constructed as follows:

<%InsertIf expression="${ecm:greater(user['DateOfBirth'], ecm:toDate('1981-04-05', ecm:timeZone('Europe/Berlin')))}"%>Text<%/InsertIf%>

Structure

ecm:greater(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:greaterEqual

The function ecm:greaterEqual determines whether a specified date is equal or greater than a reference date. The comparison is exact to the millisecond. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

The message is scheduled for sendout on April 5, 2011. Content is displayed to recipients born on or after April 5, 1981. These recipients are younger than 30 or turn 30 on the day of the sendout.

The content is inserted into the message with an InsertIf statement, which is constructed as follows:

<%InsertIf expression="${ecm:greaterEqual(user['DateOfBirth'], ecm:toDate('1981-04-05', ecm:timeZone('Europe/Berlin')))}"%>Text<%/InsertIf%>

Structure

ecm:greaterEqual(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:less

The function ecm:less determines whether a specified date is less than a reference date. The comparison is exact to the millisecond. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

The message is scheduled for sendout on April 5, 2011. Content is displayed to recipients born before April 5, 1956. These recipients are at least 55 years old on the day of the sendout. Recipients who turn 55 on that day are not included.

The content is inserted into the message with an InsertIf statement, which is constructed as follows:

<%InsertIf expression="${ecm:less(user['DateOfBirth'], ecm:toDate('1956-04-05', ecm:timeZone('Europe/Berlin')))}"%>Text<%/InsertIf%>

Structure

ecm:less(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:lessEqual

The function ecm:lessEqual determines whether a specified date is equal to or less than a reference date. The comparison is exact to the millisecond. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

The message is scheduled for sendout on April 5, 2011. Content is displayed to recipients born on or before April 5, 1956. These recipients are at least 55 years old on the day of the sendout.

The content is inserted into the message with an InsertIf statement, which is constructed as follows:

<%InsertIf expression="${ecm:lessEqual(user['DateOfBirth'], ecm:toDate('1956-04-05', ecm:timeZone('Europe/Berlin')))}"%>Text<%/InsertIf%>

Structure

ecm:lessEqual(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:notEqual

The function ecm:notEqual determines whether a specified date is not equal to a reference date. The comparison includes millisecond values. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

The following expression is true for all recipients who were not born on January 1, 1986:

${ecm:notEqual(user['DateOfBirth'], ecm:toDate('1986-01-01', ecm:timeZone('Europe/Berlin')))}

Structure

ecm:notEqual(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:age

The function ecm:age returns the number of years between two dates. The value returned is a long data type.

Example

Content is displayed to recipients who are 20 years or older at the time of message sendout. The function ecm:age compares the date of birth stored in a user attribute to the current date and returns a long number. This number is evaluated (using the mathematical operator greater than or equal) to return a Boolean value. If a Boolean value true is returned, the personalization is inserted into the message with an InsertIf statement. The InsertIf is constructed as follows:

<%InsertIf expression="${ecm:age(user['DateOfBirth'], date.Today) >= 20}"%>Text<%/InsertIf%>

Structure

ecm:age(date, date)

Parameters

ecm:between

The function ecm:between determines whether a specified date is between a start and an end date. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

A selection verifies whether a recipient is younger than 18. The function ecm:between checks whether the date of birth stored as a user attribute is between the date 18 years in the past and today's date. The additional function ecm:addInterval subtracts 18 years from today's date. The function is constructed as follows:

${ecm:between(user['DateOfBirth'], ecm:addInterval(date.Today, '-18Y'), date.Today)}

Structure

ecm:between(date, date, date)

Parameters

ecx:durationBetween

The function ecx:durationBetween calculates the difference between two dates in a specified unit. The value returned is a string data type.

Example

Calculate the number of days between a recipient's date of birth, which is stored as an attribute value, and the current date. The function is constructed as follows:

${ecx:durationBetween(user['DateOfBirth'], date.Today, 'days')}

Structure

ecx:durationBetween(date, date, string)

Parameters

ecx:isInTimePeriod

The function ecx:isInTimePeriod verifies whether the current time is within one of the periods given as a parameter. The value returned is a Boolean data type.

Example

Message sendout is restricted to between 16:00 and 22:30 in the Europe/London time zone. The following function returns a true value if the current time is within a period of 6 hours and 30 minutes after 16:00:

${ecx:isInTimePeriod('16:00PT6H30M', 'Europe/London')}

Structure

ecx:isInTimePeriod(string, string)

Parameters