Title: WP_Date_Query::get_compare
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: August 20, 2026

---

# WP_Date_Query::get_compare( array $query ): string

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#changelog)

Determines and validates what comparison operator to use.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$query`arrayrequired

A date query or a date subquery.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 string The comparison operator.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function get_compare( $query ) {
    	if ( ! empty( $query['compare'] )
    		&& in_array( $query['compare'], array( '=', '!=', '>', '>=', '<', '<=', 'IN', 'NOT IN', 'BETWEEN', 'NOT BETWEEN' ), true )
    	) {
    		return strtoupper( $query['compare'] );
    	}

    	return $this->compare;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-date-query.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.1/src/wp-includes/class-wp-date-query.php#L258)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.1/src/wp-includes/class-wp-date-query.php#L258-L266)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Date_Query::get_sql_for_clause()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_sql_for_clause/)`wp-includes/class-wp-date-query.php` |

Turns a first-order date query into SQL for a WHERE clause.

  | 
| [WP_Date_Query::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-date-query.php` |

Constructor.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_date_query/get_compare/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [3.7.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.7.0/) | Introduced. |

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