How to get the difference in months between two dates in PHP

Question

I wanted to calculate the difference between two dates in month with PHP but it seems like there is a bug somewhere.

$datetime1 = new DateTime(date('Y-m-d'));
$datetime2 = new DateTime(MyObject->getDate());
echo($datetime1->format('d/m/Y'));
echo($datetime2->format('d/m/Y));

Result:

29/01/2016
27/01/2015

$dateInterval = $datetime1->diff($datetime2);
echo($dateInterval->format(%m months);

Result:

0 months

Why is that? What am i doing wrong ?

In the case you describe, there is no difference in months (they're both January), you'll find that the date interval shows the year property contains 1 as there is one year difference between the dates. — Jonnix, Jan 29 '16 at 11:44
ok.. I thought it was the difference between 2 dates in months — mlwacosmos, Jan 29 '16 at 11:45
`print_r($dateInterval)` can help you understand how the class [`DateInterval`](http://php.net/manual/en/class.dateinterval.php) works. — axiac, Jan 29 '16 at 11:48
Possible duplicate of [PHP Difference in months between two dates?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10427694/php-difference-in-months-between-two-dates) — AsgarAli, Jan 29 '16 at 11:56

Mihai Matei · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-29T12:54:06.290

5

$currentDateTime = new DateTime;
$dateTimeInTheFuture = new DateTime(MyObject->getDate());

$dateInterval = $dateTimeInTheFuture->diff($currentDateTime);

$totalMonths = 12 * $dateInterval->y + $dateInterval->m;

echo $totalMonths;

edited Jan 29 '16 at 12:54

answered Jan 29 '16 at 11:56

Mihai Matei

24,166
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32
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score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 29 '16 at 12:19

Calculate months between two dates:

For PHP >=5.3 you can use DateTime diff that returns a DateInterval object as below.
$d1 = new DateTime("2013-12-09");
$d2 = new DateTime("2014-03-17");

var_dump($d1->diff($d2)->m); 
var_dump($d1->diff($d2)->m + ($d1->diff($d2)->y*12));
If you don’t have PHP 5.3 or higher, you can use strtotime() function to get timestamps, the number of seconds between any date and January 1 1970 00:00:00.
$d1 = "2013-12-09";
$d2 = "2014-03-17";
echo (int)abs((strtotime($d1) - strtotime($d2))/(60*60*24*30));

http://www.tricksofit.com/2013/12/calculate-the-difference-between-two-dates-in-php

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 29 '16 at 11:45

// @link http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.datetime.php
$d1 = new DateTime(date('Y-m-d'));
$d2 = new DateTime(MyObject->getDate());

// @link http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.dateinterval.php
$interval = $d2->diff($d1);

$interval->format('%m months');

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 29 '16 at 11:54

0

DateTime::diff returns relative values, with exception of days. So, to calculate the absolute difference in months, you have to use:

$datetime1->diff($datetime2)->format('%y')*12+$datetime1->diff($datetime2)->format('%m');

answered Jan 29 '16 at 11:54

fusion3k

11,568
4
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Vasim Shaikh · Answer 5 · 2016-01-29T12:17:21.163

You are just missed Single quote termination,

$datetime1 = new DateTime(date('Y-m-d'));
$datetime2 = new DateTime(MyObject->getDate());
echo($datetime1->format('d/m/Y'));
echo($datetime2->format('d/m/Y'));//You are missing single quote here

I am also try with this code,

<?php
$datetime1 = date_create('2009-10-11');
$datetime2 = date_create('2009-12-13');
echo($datetime1->format('d/m/Y'));
echo "<br/>";
echo($datetime2->format('d/m/Y'));
$dateInterval = $datetime1->diff($datetime2);
//print_r(arrayColumn($dateInterval,'m'));
echo "<br>Month are :".$dateInterval->format('%m');
exit; 

?>

How to get the difference in months between two dates in PHP

5 Answers5