Re: [PHP] difference between two times? Date_diff and DateTime::diff

[Matthew Croud]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply,  I believe I have a fair understanding of  
functions, and I have followed the example on the PHP manual page ( http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/function.date-diff.php 
 ), ideally I want to know how to use the class DateTime::diff, how  
can I use the DateTime::diff to get the difference between two times/ 
dates ? I suppose then I'm after the syntax

would it be like this for example:
$DIfferenceInTime  = DateTime::diff(10:00,12:32);

Thanks again for helping me out.



On 16 Jun 2009, at 12:33, Tom Chubb wrote:

Matt,
Do you understand how to use functions?
A function is defined like this:

function () {
//code goes here
}

You can pass arguments to be used in a function like this:

function($arg1, $arg2) {
//code goes here
}

In the first example on the following page: 
http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/function.date-diff.php
To call the function you need to provide two arguments: $dtTime1 &   
$dtTime2

To use in a script, you need to first define the function, as per  
the example:

<?php

function GetDeltaTime($dtTime1, $dtTime2)
{
  $nUXDate1 = strtotime($dtTime1->format("Y-m-d H:i:s"));
  $nUXDate2 = strtotime($dtTime2->format("Y-m-d H:i:s"));

  $nUXDelta = $nUXDate1 - $nUXDate2;
  $strDeltaTime = "" . $nUXDelta/60/60; // sec -> hour

  $nPos = strpos($strDeltaTime, ".");
  if (nPos !== false)
    $strDeltaTime = substr($strDeltaTime, 0, $nPos + 3);

  return $strDeltaTime;
}

?>

Then you need to call the function like this:

<?php
GetDeltaTime("time1-goes-here", "time2-goes-here")
?>

And it should spit out the difference.

Code is untested and if you didn't follow that I suggest you read up  
on functions: http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_functions.asp

Hope this helps - I'm probably in a similar situation to you and  
have been dabbling with PHP for a few years just as a hobby but  
thought I'd try and help out.
You'll learn a lot from reading this list as well.

Cheers and good luck,

Tom


2009/6/16 Matthew Croud <m...@obviousdigital.com>

Hello,

My journey of learning PHP is going well, so i've decided to make a  
small program which works out the difference between two times and  
records the data in a text file.

I've searched the PHP manual for functions which can help me out,  
and I discovered the function Date_diff ( http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/function.date-diff.php 
 )and the class DateTime::diff ( http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/datetime.diff.php 
 )

My question is, how on earth do I use these functions ? I really  
don't understand the manual documentation.

I've just moved onto the subject of classes and so I'm fairly new to  
the concept, although I am following it well.

If someone could explain to me how to use ether of these ( Date_diff  
and DateTime::diff ) I would be VERY grateful.

Thank you so much!
Matt

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