$todays_date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
if($todays_date>$sql_date)

sql date being a variable extracted from a sql db, the variables are in the same format. would this work?

Good question. I think it should... This test seems to work as you might expect:

PHP Code:

<?php

$date_one = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$date_two = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', mktime(0, 0, 0, date('m'), date('j') + 5)); // 5 days future

if($date_one > $date_two)
    echo 'Works as expected! ';
else
    echo 'Maybe not... ';
    
?>

I have never thought about comparing dates with greater or less than symbols.
That could come in handy.