Calculate number of days between two dates with accuracy

Question

Well, this may be a stone age question, but I got confused after reading so many questions here.

A simple solution using strtotime() has been pointed out here, but the last comment about time change for the accepted answer leads me to diff function.
Many of the links suggest me to diff function , something like Calculate number of hours between 2 dates in PHP.
- But then I saw a PHP bug that diff shows wrong values when first date of the days are involved (link).
- Also days part on diff function always return 6015 on Windows platform (link).

I read many more links and all of them ends with diff() function. Is there a reliable solution for this problem?

Note: I am using PHP version 5.3.5

There's a bug in your version of PHP that will make working with dates difficult. You need to upgrade your version of PHP. Once you do this becomes trivial to do. — John Conde, May 01 '14 at 13:00
@John The "bug" exists in *all* versions of PHP: http://3v4l.org/LHjKM — deceze, May 01 '14 at 13:02
I was actually referring to a different one that was patched in 5.3.6. (Pretty sure its the first one [in this list under DateTime](http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.3.6)) — John Conde, May 01 '14 at 13:05
Looks like you've done a fair bit of research. Not sure why this is so heavily downvoted (other than the general Meta view that the PHP tag is going to hell in a handcart) so +1. — halfer, May 01 '14 at 13:07
Guys! Downvoting should be only when there is not enough research, Do I have to paste all the links for the question which I have researched — Abel, May 01 '14 at 13:17
@John Conde: You mean there is no solution for this in 5.3.5. — Abel, May 01 '14 at 13:31

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered May 01 '14 at 13:09

-1

If you don't want to use datediff neither strtotime, one more solution is to use getTimestamp and calc the difference

$datetime1 = new DateTime('13-03-01');
$datetime2 = new DateTime('13-04-01');

$datetime1TS = datetime1->getTimestamp;
$datetime2TS = datetime2->getTimestamp;

$interval = ($datetime2TS - $datetime1TS)/(60*60*24);

But i think that datediff is better.

answered May 01 '14 at 13:09

fasenderos

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But it will be same as strtotime, compare it with the link I provide in the first both will be same. – Abel May 01 '14 at 13:30

Calculate number of days between two dates with accuracy

1 Answers1