Difference in two date objects by date diff function in PHP

We can get difference of two dates by using diff function. Note that this function is supported by PHP 5.3 and higher versions.

How to know PHP version ?

Here is an example of knowing the difference in two dates , the first date is taken as present date and past date is created by using date object.

<?Php
date_default_timezone_set ("Asia/Kolkata");
$date1=new DateTime("now") ;
echo $date1->format('d-m-y H:i:s');
echo "<br><br>";
$date2=new DateTime("1976-5-5");
 $date= $date1->diff($date2);
echo $date->format('%y Years, %m Months, %d Days');
?>

The output is here

05-03-12 19:17:19

35 Years, 10 Months, 0 Days

Difference in two fixed dates

$date1=new DateTime('2016-03-30');
$date2=new DateTime('2015-01-29');

$difference=$date1->diff($date2);

echo " Difference is $difference->y years, $difference->m Months & $difference->d Days ";

Output is here

Difference is 1 years, 2 Months & 1 Days

DEMO of showing difference in date and time

Difference in Seconds using strtotime()

Date function strtotime converts date string of text into unix timestamp.

$date1=strtotime('2016-03-30');
$date2=strtotime('2015-01-29');

$difference=$date1-$date2;

echo " Difference in Seconds $difference ";

Output is here

Difference in Seconds 36806400

Data in seconds can be converted meaningful output by calculating days months etc.

PHP Date Functions Adding Date by using DateInterval

Subhendu Mohapatra

Author & Instructor at plus2net

I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.

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Date diff ( difference)

Difference in two fixed dates

Difference in Seconds using strtotime()

Subhendu Mohapatra