subtract two dates and show result in date formate

Question

i m tried hard to get the date in the date formate after subtracting two dates but not getting the correct result ,and the result is 1970-01-07 05:00:00 but i require the result 2013-02-07 12:02:00

$start_date =strtotime('2013-02-13 12:02:00');
$end_date =strtotime('2013-02-20 12:02:00');
$total = ($start_date - $end_date);
echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s",$total);

The result of subtracting one date from another is a period, not another date. Why on earth would it be 2013-02-07 12:02:00? — Jon Skeet, Feb 27 '13 at 06:55
@user1869193, by the way this is not the difference by any means — simply-put, Feb 27 '13 at 07:00

hek2mgl · Answer 1 · 2013-02-27T07:57:47.543

As of PHP 5.3 you can use the DateTime::diff() method together with the DateInterval class for that:

<?php

$start = new DateTime('2013-02-13 12:02:00');
$end   = new DateTime('2013-02-20 12:02:00');

$interval = $end->diff($start);
echo $interval->format('%Y-%M-%D %H:%I:%S');

In addition, it is the supposed way to do as of PHP5.3, as it handle timezones, daylight saving times (leap hours) and leap years properly.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 27 '13 at 06:53

2

you are getting the correct result as after subtracting two date result is 7 days which is added to default date 1970-01-01

answered Feb 27 '13 at 06:53

simply-put

1,068
1
11
20

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '13 at 06:54

Try the code below

$date2 ='2013-02-13 12:02:00';
$date1 ='2013-02-20 12:02:00';

$diff = abs(strtotime($date2) - strtotime($date1));

$years = floor($diff / (365*60*60*24));
$months = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24) / (30*60*60*24));
$days = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24 - $months*30*60*60*24)/ (60*60*24));

printf("%d years, %d months, %d days\n", $years, $months, $days);

subtract two dates and show result in date formate

3 Answers3