How to Calculate the Difference Between Two Dates in Days Using PHP?

Calculating Day-Based Date Difference in PHP

Introduction:

Determining the difference between two dates, particularly for a duration in days, can be a common task in programming. In PHP, this calculation can be performed efficiently using the built-in function date_diff.

Question:

How can we quickly calculate the difference between two dates in PHP, representing the interval between them in days?

Answer:

To calculate the day-based difference between two dates in PHP, follow these steps:

1. Convert the Dates to DateTime Objects: Convert the input dates $date1 and $date2 into DateTime objects using DateTime::createFromFormat:

<code class="php">$date1Object = DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $date1);
$date2Object = DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $date2);</code>

2. Calculate the Difference: Utilize the date_diff function to calculate the difference between the two DateTime objects and store it in a DateInterval object:

<code class="php">$dateDiff = $date1Object->diff($date2Object);</code>

3. Extract the Day Count: The DateInterval object contains sub-properties for the duration in years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. To extract the day count, use the days property:

<code class="php">$dayCount = $dateDiff->days;</code>

Example:

Using the provided dates:

<code class="php">$date1 = '2009-11-12 12:09:08';
$date2 = '2009-12-01 08:20:11';</code>

The resulting day count would be:

<code class="php">$dayCount = 19;</code>

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