- date: documentation ( source)
- strtotime: documentation ( source)
<?php
echo date('H:i:s Y-m-d',strtotime("midnight today"));
echo (new DateTime("2015-11-05 16:00:00") < new DateTime(strtotime("midnight today")) ? "earlier" : "later");
echo (new DateTime("2015-11-04 16:00:00") < new DateTime(strtotime("midnight today")) ? "earlier" : "later");