A question regarding "no more curly brackets around variables in conditionals"

Hi all,

reading the version notes for 2.9.0 I see: “Variables in conditionals should not be wrapped in braces ({}). Instead of {if {count} == 5} do {if count == 5}.”

That makes sense, no problem. But I’m confused about date strings. Are those considered variables or is that an operator? For example, what do I do about this? {if {entry_date format="%z"} == {expiration_date format="%z"} } do stuff {/if}

Is that still OK?

Many thanks in advance, Andy