The date_diff() is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to calculate the difference between two dates. This function returns a DateInterval object on the success and returns FALSE on failure.
Syntax:
date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);
Parameters: The date_diff() function accepts two parameters as mentioned above and described below:
- $datetime1: It is a mandatory parameter which specifies the first DateTime object.
- $datetime2: It is a mandatory parameter which specifies the second DateTime object.
Return Value: It returns the difference between two DateTime objects otherwise, FALSE on failure.
Below programs illustrate the date_diff() function:
Program 1:
<?php // PHP program to illustrate // date_diff() function   // creates DateTime objects $datetime1 = date_create('2017-06-28'); $datetime2 = date_create('2018-06-28');   // calculates the difference between DateTime objects $interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);   // printing result in days format echo $interval->format('%R%a days'); ?> |
Output:
+365 days
Program 2:
<?php // PHP program to illustrate // date_diff() function   // difference only in year $datetime1 = date_create('2017-06-28'); $datetime2 = date_create('2018-06-28');   $interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2); echo $interval->format('%R%a days') . "\n";   // Difference only in months $datetime1 = date_create('2018-04-28'); $datetime2 = date_create('2018-06-28');   $interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2); echo $interval->format('%R%a days') . "\n";   // Difference in year, month, days $datetime1 = date_create('2017-06-28'); $datetime2 = date_create('2018-04-05');   $interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2); echo $interval->format('%R%a days') . "\n";   ?> |
Output:
+365 days +61 days +281 days
