The Date object will do what you want - construct one for each date, then compare them using the >, <, <= or >=.
The ==, !=, ===, and !== operators require you to use date.getTime() as in
var d1 = new Date();
var d2 = new Date(d1);
var same = d1.getTime() === d2.getTime();
var notSame = d1.getTime() !== d2.getTime();
to be clear just checking for equality directly with the date objects won't work
var d1 = new Date();
var d2 = new Date(d1);
console.log(d1 == d2); // prints false (wrong!)
console.log(d1 === d2); // prints false (wrong!)
console.log(d1 != d2); // prints true (wrong!)
console.log(d1 !== d2); // prints true (wrong!)
console.log(d1.getTime() === d2.getTime()); // prints true (correct)
I suggest you use drop-downs or some similar constrained form of date entry rather than text boxes, though, lest you find yourself in input validation hell.
For the curious, date.getTime() documentation:
Returns the numeric value of the specified date as the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. (Negative values are returned for prior times.)
Strictly, method a is the least resource intensive:
a) select DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, getdate()), 0)
Proven less CPU intensive for the same total duration a million rows by someone with way too much time on their hands: Most efficient way in SQL Server to get a date from date+time?
I saw a similar test elsewhere with similar results too.
I prefer the DATEADD/DATEDIFF because:
Edit, Oct 2011
For SQL Server 2008+, you can CAST to date i.e. CAST(getdate() AS date). Or just use date datatype so no time to remove.
Edit, Jan 2012
A worked example of how flexible this is: Need to calculate by rounded time or date figure in sql server
Edit, May 2012
Do not use this in WHERE clauses and the like without thinking: adding a function or CAST to a column invalidates index usage. See number 2 here Common SQL Programming Mistakes
Now, this does have an example of later SQL Server optimiser versions managing CAST to date correctly, but generally it will be a bad idea ...
Edit, Sep 2018, for datetime2
DECLARE @datetime2value datetime2 = '02180912 11:45' --this is deliberately within datetime2, year 0218
DECLARE @datetime2epoch datetime2 = '19000101'
select DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, @datetime2epoch, @datetime2value), @datetime2epoch)
Best Answer
Yes, you can use comparison operators to compare dates e.g.:
But are you trying to compare a date to a datetime?
If that's the case, you'll want to convert the datetime to a date then do the comparison.
I hope this helps.