Return rows between two dates - mysql

Question

I have ItemsRent table,
ID | ParentID | SubID | StartDate | EndDate |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | 100 | 102 | 2014-09-09 17:40:00 | 2014-11-09 17:40:00 |
2 | 70 | 73 | 2014-08-09 14:20:00 | 2014-12-09 13:40:00 |
The dates are in sql format.
My input dates are:
InputStartDate: 2014-09-09 18:00:00
InputEndDate: 2014-10-09 13:47:00
And i want to return the best row only of the dates are between two dates. So for example:
Lets call StartDate as S, and EndDate as E.
And input dates will be InputStartDate as IS, and InputEndDate as IE.
S E
|----------------|
IS IE
|XXXXXXX--------|
Any suggestions ?

Answer 1

This query will produce a result matching your illustration. It will find all rows where any time at all was spent between InputStartDate and InputEndDate, and output a modified date range that is clamped by InputStartDate and InputEndDate.
SELECT ID, ParentId, SubId,
MAX( InputStartDate, StartDate ) AS Date_Start,
MIN( InputEndDate, EndDate ) AS Date_End
FROM `itemsRent`
WHERE InputStartDate <= EndDate AND InputEndDate >= StartDate

Answer 2

Normally, I would say to use the BETWEEN operator, but since you are storing both the start and end dates in the table, this would get more complicated than it needs to be. If you assume that the start date being stored is before the end date, you only need to perform two checks.
SELECT * FROM `itemsRent` WHERE `StartDate` > 1410285600 AND `EndDate` < 1410356820
This verifies that the start date of the item takes place after the specified start date. The issue with this is that it does not check if it takes place before the end date. Instead of explicitly writing this check, you can make sure of this by checking that the item's end date takes place before the specified end date.
NOTE: Might cause issues if the start date does not occur before the end date. If this is a possibility, then you will need to explicitly write these checks. This would be a good case in which to use the BETWEEN operation.

Answer 3

Why not just pull out the max end date in the table as the high date?
SELECT *
FROM itemsRent
WHERE (InputStartDate BETWEEN startdate AND end date)
AND (InputEndDate BETWEEN startdate AND enddate);

Answer 4

Your query is currently looking for rows whose EndDate is earlier than your provided StartDate or after your provided EndDate. I don't think that is what you want.
If you want rows that both StartDate and EndDate are between your provided dates (lets call them your-start-date and your-end-date), your query should be something like:
SELECT * FROM `itemsRent` WHERE `StartDate` > your-start-date AND `StartDate` < your-end-date AND `EndDate` > your-start-date AND `EndDate` < your-send-date