Weird string problem

[999Dom999]

I'm creating a query its long so I won't post it all but this part in question.

$first = date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, 10, 1, $y)); 
$last = date('Y-m-t', mktime(0, 0, 0, 10, 1, $y)); 
$dateQuery = " ITRAN.IT_DUE >= { d '$first'} AND ITRAN.IT_DUE <= { d '$last'} AND ";

So $dateQuery outputs

ITRAN.IT_DUE >= { d '2012-10-01'} AND ITRAN.IT_DUE <= { d '2012-10-31'} AND

When I send the full query with date range I get spurious results, I'm expecting no results at all, but I get many.

Now the weird bit if I echo $dateQuery then copy and paste the output into the query it works as expected. Or if I don't use the date function and do $first = '2012-10-01'; $last = '2012-10-31'; then it also works as expected.

So somehow the date function although its string is somehow different to $first = '2012-10-01';

If I do echo gettype($first); it outputs a string.

I tried:

$first = date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, $i, 1, $y)); 
$first = (string)$first;
//and
$first = date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, $i, 1, $y)); 
$first = print_r($first,true); 
//and
$first = date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, $i, 1, $y)); 
$pieces = explode("-", $first); //was a stab in the dark
$first = $pieces[0]."-".$pieces[1]."-".$pieces[2];
//and
$first = date('Y-m-d', mktime(0, 0, 0, $i, 1, $y)); 
$first = strval($first); 
//and
var_dump($first); //tells me its a string.

None Of the above works. Its driving me crazy. If I copy and paste the output it works fine, any ideas why this would be anything other than a normal string. I use the date function all the time without any problems in my queries so not sure why this is happening?

 

[999Dom999]

AHHHHH!!!!!

Had nothing to do with the string.

I was running a loop with an array holding database values, when it returned no results the array still held the info from the previous result set. If I hard coded the date I would always get the result I expected!

D'oh so silly!!!

That mind bender is over!

 

[jpadie]

you have not said what database engine you are using.

the date() function returns a string, so casting to a string is unnecessary. something else is causing the issue. give us more information.

 

[999Dom999]

Thanks as my post above I figured it out, it was my mistake