PHP date_diff returns wrong value for comparing two date-time

Question

I found this post that shows how to get the difference in hours between two dates.

The dates are: 2017-07-03 13:55:20 AND 2017-07-04 21:17:44

When I tried using this code it gives me wrong value:

$date1 = date_create('2017-07-03 13:55:20');

$date2 = date_create('2017-07-04 21:17:44');

$diff = date_diff($date1,$date2);

$hour = $diff->h;

returns 8 hours //incorrect

But this one gives me the correct value:

$hourdiff = round((strtotime('2017-07-03 13:55:20') - strtotime('2017-07-04 21:17:44'))/3600);
returns 31 hours //correct

$diff is a object here, which gives difference in year,month,weeks,day,hour,minute, you are accessing only hours here, print the complete $diff object, then you will get the correct value — RAUSHAN KUMAR, Jul 10 '17 at 06:10
@RAUSHANKUMAR So I have to convert the days into hours as well to get the full hour difference? — hungrykoala, Jul 10 '17 at 06:12

Sebastian Brosch · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-10T06:18:14.623

3

You have to go this way:

<?php
$date1 = date_create('2017-07-03 13:55:20');
$date2 = date_create('2017-07-04 21:17:44');

$diff = date_diff($date1,$date2);

$hour = ($diff->d * 24) + $diff->h;
echo $hour;

demo: http://ideone.com/7SBfHn

The date_diff function gives you the difference as follow:

             y  m  d  h  m  s
-----------------------------
Date1:    2017-07-03 13:55:20
             |  |  |  |  |  |
Diff:        0  0  1  8  0 24
             |  |  |  |  |  |
Date2:    2017-07-04 21:17:44

edited Jul 10 '17 at 06:18

answered Jul 10 '17 at 06:12

Sebastian Brosch

42,106
15
72
87

I see, So I have to look for the day as well. Maybe that is why it was working for my other date range since the difference was only 22 hours. Thank you for this. – hungrykoala Jul 10 '17 at 06:13

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 10 '17 at 06:30

you can leverage 'format' function of object returned by date_diff. (http://php.net/manual/en/function.date-diff.php)

Here is my solution leveraging format function-

$date1 = date_create('2017-07-03 13:00:00');

$date2 = date_create('2017-07-04 21:17:44');

$diff = date_diff($date1,$date2);

$hour =( $diff->format('%d')*24 + $diff->format('%h')) . '.' . $diff->format('%i') . 'mins';

echo $hour; // output = '32.17mins'

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 10 '17 at 07:09

0

use this,

$d1= new DateTime("2017-07-03 13:55:20"); 
$d2= new DateTime("2017-07-04 21:17:44");
$interval= $d1->diff($d2);
echo ($interval->days * 24) + $interval->h;

answered Jul 10 '17 at 07:09

Manav Sharma

187
1
8

PHP date_diff returns wrong value for comparing two date-time

3 Answers3