use warnings;
use strict;
use Date::EzDate;

my $date1 = Date::EzDate->new('01/01/2003');
my $date2 = Date::EzDate->new('1 October 2003');

my $before = '';
$before = 'not ' if $date1 >= $date2;

print $date1->{'%D'}, ' is ', $before, 'before ', $date2->{'%D'}, "\n";