Convert seconds into days, hours, minutes and seconds
PhpDatePhp Problem Overview
I would like to convert a variable $uptime which is seconds, into days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Example:
$uptime = 1640467;
Result should be:
18 days 23 hours 41 minutes
Php Solutions
Solution 1 - Php
This can be achieved with DateTime class
Function:
function secondsToTime($seconds) {
$dtF = new \DateTime('@0');
$dtT = new \DateTime("@$seconds");
return $dtF->diff($dtT)->format('%a days, %h hours, %i minutes and %s seconds');
}
Use:
echo secondsToTime(1640467);
# 18 days, 23 hours, 41 minutes and 7 seconds
Solution 2 - Php
This is the function rewritten to include days. I also changed the variable names to make the code easier to understand...
/**
* Convert number of seconds into hours, minutes and seconds
* and return an array containing those values
*
* @param integer $inputSeconds Number of seconds to parse
* @return array
*/
function secondsToTime($inputSeconds) {
$secondsInAMinute = 60;
$secondsInAnHour = 60 * $secondsInAMinute;
$secondsInADay = 24 * $secondsInAnHour;
// extract days
$days = floor($inputSeconds / $secondsInADay);
// extract hours
$hourSeconds = $inputSeconds % $secondsInADay;
$hours = floor($hourSeconds / $secondsInAnHour);
// extract minutes
$minuteSeconds = $hourSeconds % $secondsInAnHour;
$minutes = floor($minuteSeconds / $secondsInAMinute);
// extract the remaining seconds
$remainingSeconds = $minuteSeconds % $secondsInAMinute;
$seconds = ceil($remainingSeconds);
// return the final array
$obj = array(
'd' => (int) $days,
'h' => (int) $hours,
'm' => (int) $minutes,
's' => (int) $seconds,
);
return $obj;
}
Source: CodeAid() - http://codeaid.net/php/convert-seconds-to-hours-minutes-and-seconds-(php)
Solution 3 - Php
Based on the answer by Julian Moreno, but changed to give the response as a string (not an array), only include the time intervals required and not assume the plural.
The difference between this and the highest voted answer is:
For 259264 seconds, this code would give
> 3 days, 1 minute, 4 seconds
For 259264 seconds, the highest voted answer (by Glavić) would give
> 3 days, 0 hours, 1 minutes and 4 seconds
function secondsToTime($inputSeconds) {
$secondsInAMinute = 60;
$secondsInAnHour = 60 * $secondsInAMinute;
$secondsInADay = 24 * $secondsInAnHour;
// Extract days
$days = floor($inputSeconds / $secondsInADay);
// Extract hours
$hourSeconds = $inputSeconds % $secondsInADay;
$hours = floor($hourSeconds / $secondsInAnHour);
// Extract minutes
$minuteSeconds = $hourSeconds % $secondsInAnHour;
$minutes = floor($minuteSeconds / $secondsInAMinute);
// Extract the remaining seconds
$remainingSeconds = $minuteSeconds % $secondsInAMinute;
$seconds = ceil($remainingSeconds);
// Format and return
$timeParts = [];
$sections = [
'day' => (int)$days,
'hour' => (int)$hours,
'minute' => (int)$minutes,
'second' => (int)$seconds,
];
foreach ($sections as $name => $value){
if ($value > 0){
$timeParts[] = $value. ' '.$name.($value == 1 ? '' : 's');
}
}
return implode(', ', $timeParts);
}
I hope this helps someone.
Solution 4 - Php
Here it is a simple 8-lines PHP function that converts a number of seconds into a human readable string including number of months for large amounts of seconds:
function seconds2human($ss) { $s = $ss%60; $m = floor(($ss%3600)/60); $h = floor(($ss%86400)/3600); $d = floor(($ss%2592000)/86400); $M = floor($ss/2592000);
return "$M months, $d days, $h hours, $m minutes, $s seconds";
}
Solution 5 - Php
gmdate("d H:i:s",1640467);
Result will be 19 23:41:07. When it is just one second more than normal day, it is increasing the day value for 1 day. This is why it show 19. You can explode the result for your needs and fix this.
Solution 6 - Php
There are some very good answers here but none of them covered my needs. I built on Glavic's answer to add some extra features that I needed;
- Don't print zeros. So "5 minutes" instead of " 0 hours, 5 minutes"
- Handle plural properly instead of defaulting to the plural form.
- Limit the output to a set number of units; So "2 months, 2 days" instead of "2 months, 2 days, 1 hour, 45 minutes"
You can see a running version of the code here.
function secondsToHumanReadable(int $seconds, int $requiredParts = null)
{
$from = new \DateTime('@0');
$to = new \DateTime("@$seconds");
$interval = $from->diff($to);
$str = '';
$parts = [
'y' => 'year',
'm' => 'month',
'd' => 'day',
'h' => 'hour',
'i' => 'minute',
's' => 'second',
];
$includedParts = 0;
foreach ($parts as $key => $text) {
if ($requiredParts && $includedParts >= $requiredParts) {
break;
}
$currentPart = $interval->{$key};
if (empty($currentPart)) {
continue;
}
if (!empty($str)) {
$str .= ', ';
}
$str .= sprintf('%d %s', $currentPart, $text);
if ($currentPart > 1) {
// handle plural
$str .= 's';
}
$includedParts++;
}
return $str;
}
Solution 7 - Php
Short, simple, reliable :
function secondsToDHMS($seconds) {
$s = (int)$seconds;
return sprintf('%d:%02d:%02d:%02d', $s/86400, $s/3600%24, $s/60%60, $s%60);
}
Solution 8 - Php
Laravel example
700+ locales support by Carbon
\Carbon\CarbonInterval::seconds(1640467)->cascade()->forHumans(); //2 weeks 4 days 23 hours 41 minutes 7 seconds
Solution 9 - Php
The simplest approach would be to create a method that returns a DateInterval from the DateTime::diff of the relative time in $seconds from the current time $now which you can then chain and format. For example:-
public function toDateInterval($seconds) {
return date_create('@' . (($now = time()) + $seconds))->diff(date_create('@' . $now));
}
Now chain your method call to DateInterval::format
echo $this->toDateInterval(1640467)->format('%a days %h hours %i minutes'));
Result:
18 days 23 hours 41 minutes
Solution 10 - Php
Although it is quite old question - one may find these useful (not written to be fast):
function d_h_m_s__string1($seconds)
{
$ret = '';
$divs = array(86400, 3600, 60, 1);
for ($d = 0; $d < 4; $d++)
{
$q = (int)($seconds / $divs[$d]);
$r = $seconds % $divs[$d];
$ret .= sprintf("%d%s", $q, substr('dhms', $d, 1));
$seconds = $r;
}
return $ret;
}
function d_h_m_s__string2($seconds)
{
if ($seconds == 0) return '0s';
$can_print = false; // to skip 0d, 0d0m ....
$ret = '';
$divs = array(86400, 3600, 60, 1);
for ($d = 0; $d < 4; $d++)
{
$q = (int)($seconds / $divs[$d]);
$r = $seconds % $divs[$d];
if ($q != 0) $can_print = true;
if ($can_print) $ret .= sprintf("%d%s", $q, substr('dhms', $d, 1));
$seconds = $r;
}
return $ret;
}
function d_h_m_s__array($seconds)
{
$ret = array();
$divs = array(86400, 3600, 60, 1);
for ($d = 0; $d < 4; $d++)
{
$q = $seconds / $divs[$d];
$r = $seconds % $divs[$d];
$ret[substr('dhms', $d, 1)] = $q;
$seconds = $r;
}
return $ret;
}
echo d_h_m_s__string1(0*86400+21*3600+57*60+13) . "\n";
echo d_h_m_s__string2(0*86400+21*3600+57*60+13) . "\n";
$ret = d_h_m_s__array(9*86400+21*3600+57*60+13);
printf("%dd%dh%dm%ds\n", $ret['d'], $ret['h'], $ret['m'], $ret['s']);
result:
0d21h57m13s
21h57m13s
9d21h57m13s
Solution 11 - Php
function seconds_to_time($seconds){
// extract hours
$hours = floor($seconds / (60 * 60));
// extract minutes
$divisor_for_minutes = $seconds % (60 * 60);
$minutes = floor($divisor_for_minutes / 60);
// extract the remaining seconds
$divisor_for_seconds = $divisor_for_minutes % 60;
$seconds = ceil($divisor_for_seconds);
//create string HH:MM:SS
$ret = $hours.":".$minutes.":".$seconds;
return($ret);
}
Solution 12 - Php
function convert($seconds){
$string = "";
$days = intval(intval($seconds) / (3600*24));
$hours = (intval($seconds) / 3600) % 24;
$minutes = (intval($seconds) / 60) % 60;
$seconds = (intval($seconds)) % 60;
if($days> 0){
$string .= "$days days ";
}
if($hours > 0){
$string .= "$hours hours ";
}
if($minutes > 0){
$string .= "$minutes minutes ";
}
if ($seconds > 0){
$string .= "$seconds seconds";
}
return $string;
}
echo convert(3744000);
Solution 13 - Php
I don't know why some of these answers are ridiculously long or complex. Here's one using the DateTime Class. Kind of similar to radzserg's answer. This will only display the units necessary, and negative times will have the 'ago' suffix...
function calctime($seconds = 0) {
$datetime1 = date_create("@0");
$datetime2 = date_create("@$seconds");
$interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);
if ( $interval->y >= 1 ) $thetime[] = pluralize( $interval->y, 'year' );
if ( $interval->m >= 1 ) $thetime[] = pluralize( $interval->m, 'month' );
if ( $interval->d >= 1 ) $thetime[] = pluralize( $interval->d, 'day' );
if ( $interval->h >= 1 ) $thetime[] = pluralize( $interval->h, 'hour' );
if ( $interval->i >= 1 ) $thetime[] = pluralize( $interval->i, 'minute' );
if ( $interval->s >= 1 ) $thetime[] = pluralize( $interval->s, 'second' );
return isset($thetime) ? implode(' ', $thetime) . ($interval->invert ? ' ago' : '') : NULL;
}
function pluralize($count, $text) {
return $count . ($count == 1 ? " $text" : " ${text}s");
}
// Examples:
// -86400 = 1 day ago
// 12345 = 3 hours 25 minutes 45 seconds
// 987654321 = 31 years 3 months 18 days 4 hours 25 minutes 21 seconds
EDIT: If you want to condense the above example down to use less variables / space (at the expense of legibility), here is an alternate version that does the same thing:
function calctime($seconds = 0) {
$interval = date_diff(date_create("@0"),date_create("@$seconds"));
foreach (array('y'=>'year','m'=>'month','d'=>'day','h'=>'hour','i'=>'minute','s'=>'second') as $format=>$desc) {
if ($interval->$format >= 1) $thetime[] = $interval->$format . ($interval->$format == 1 ? " $desc" : " {$desc}s");
}
return isset($thetime) ? implode(' ', $thetime) . ($interval->invert ? ' ago' : '') : NULL;
}
Solution 14 - Php
an extended version of [Glavić's excellent solution][1] , having integer validation, solving the 1 s problem, and additional support for years and months, at the expense of being less computer parsing friendly in favor of being more human friendly:
<?php
function secondsToHumanReadable(/*int*/ $seconds)/*: string*/ {
//if you dont need php5 support, just remove the is_int check and make the input argument type int.
if(!\is_int($seconds)){
throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Argument 1 passed to secondsToHumanReadable() must be of the type int, '.\gettype($seconds).' given');
}
$dtF = new \DateTime ( '@0' );
$dtT = new \DateTime ( "@$seconds" );
$ret = '';
if ($seconds === 0) {
// special case
return '0 seconds';
}
$diff = $dtF->diff ( $dtT );
foreach ( array (
'y' => 'year',
'm' => 'month',
'd' => 'day',
'h' => 'hour',
'i' => 'minute',
's' => 'second'
) as $time => $timename ) {
if ($diff->$time !== 0) {
$ret .= $diff->$time . ' ' . $timename;
if ($diff->$time !== 1 && $diff->$time !== -1 ) {
$ret .= 's';
}
$ret .= ' ';
}
}
return substr ( $ret, 0, - 1 );
}
var_dump(secondsToHumanReadable(1*60*60*2+1)); -> string(16) "2 hours 1 second"
[1]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19680778/1067003 "Glavić's excellent solution"
Solution 15 - Php
Solution that should exclude 0 values and set correct singular/plural values
use DateInterval;
use DateTime;
class TimeIntervalFormatter
{
public static function fromSeconds($seconds)
{
$seconds = (int)$seconds;
$dateTime = new DateTime();
$dateTime->sub(new DateInterval("PT{$seconds}S"));
$interval = (new DateTime())->diff($dateTime);
$pieces = explode(' ', $interval->format('%y %m %d %h %i %s'));
$intervals = ['year', 'month', 'day', 'hour', 'minute', 'second'];
$result = [];
foreach ($pieces as $i => $value) {
if (!$value) {
continue;
}
$periodName = $intervals[$i];
if ($value > 1) {
$periodName .= 's';
}
$result[] = "{$value} {$periodName}";
}
return implode(', ', $result);
}
}
Solution 16 - Php
function secondsToTime($seconds) {
$time = [];
$minutes = $seconds / 60;
$seconds = $seconds % 60;
$hours = $minutes / 60;
$minutes = $minutes % 60;
$days = $hours / 24;
$hours = $hours % 24;
$month = $days /30;
$days = $days % 30;
$year = $month / 12;
$month = $month % 12;
if ((int)($year) != 0){
array_push($time,[ "year" => (int)($year)]);
}
if ($month != 0){
array_push($time, ["months" => $month]);
}
if ($days != 0){
array_push($time,["days" => $days]);
}
if ($hours != 0){
array_push($time,["hours" => $hours]);
}
if ($minutes != 0){
array_push($time,["minutes" => $minutes]);
}
if ($seconds != 0){
array_push($time,["seconds" => $seconds]);
}
return $time;
}
Solution 17 - Php
All in one solution. Gives no units with zeroes. Will only produce number of units you specify (3 by default). Quite long, perhaps not very elegant. Defines are optional, but might come in handy in a big project.
define('OneMonth', 2592000);
define('OneWeek', 604800);
define('OneDay', 86400);
define('OneHour', 3600);
define('OneMinute', 60);
function SecondsToTime($seconds, $num_units=3) {
$time_descr = array(
"months" => floor($seconds / OneMonth),
"weeks" => floor(($seconds%OneMonth) / OneWeek),
"days" => floor(($seconds%OneWeek) / OneDay),
"hours" => floor(($seconds%OneDay) / OneHour),
"mins" => floor(($seconds%OneHour) / OneMinute),
"secs" => floor($seconds%OneMinute),
);
$res = "";
$counter = 0;
foreach ($time_descr as $k => $v) {
if ($v) {
$res.=$v." ".$k;
$counter++;
if($counter>=$num_units)
break;
elseif($counter)
$res.=", ";
}
}
return $res;
}
Feel free to down-vote, but be sure to try it in your code. It might just be what you need.
Solution 18 - Php
Interval class I have written can be used. It can be used in opposite way too.
composer require lubos/cakephp-interval
$Interval = new \Interval\Interval\Interval();
// output 2w 6h
echo $Interval->toHuman((2 * 5 * 8 + 6) * 3600);
// output 36000
echo $Interval->toSeconds('1d 2h');
More info here https://github.com/LubosRemplik/CakePHP-Interval
Solution 19 - Php
With DateInterval :
$d1 = new DateTime();
$d2 = new DateTime();
$d2->add(new DateInterval('PT'.$timespan.'S'));
$interval = $d2->diff($d1);
echo $interval->format('%a days, %h hours, %i minutes and %s seconds');
// Or
echo sprintf('%d days, %d hours, %d minutes and %d seconds',
$interval->days,
$interval->h,
$interval->i,
$interval->s
);
// $interval->y => years
// $interval->m => months
// $interval->d => days
// $interval->h => hours
// $interval->i => minutes
// $interval->s => seconds
// $interval->days => total number of days
Solution 20 - Php
Here's some code that I like to use for the purpose of getting the duration between two dates. It accepts two dates and gives you a nice sentence structured reply.
This is a slightly modified version of the code found here.
<?php
function dateDiff($time1, $time2, $precision = 6, $offset = false) {
// If not numeric then convert texts to unix timestamps
if (!is_int($time1)) {
$time1 = strtotime($time1);
}
if (!is_int($time2)) {
if (!$offset) {
$time2 = strtotime($time2);
}
else {
$time2 = strtotime($time2) - $offset;
}
}
// If time1 is bigger than time2
// Then swap time1 and time2
if ($time1 > $time2) {
$ttime = $time1;
$time1 = $time2;
$time2 = $ttime;
}
// Set up intervals and diffs arrays
$intervals = array(
'year',
'month',
'day',
'hour',
'minute',
'second'
);
$diffs = array();
// Loop thru all intervals
foreach($intervals as $interval) {
// Create temp time from time1 and interval
$ttime = strtotime('+1 ' . $interval, $time1);
// Set initial values
$add = 1;
$looped = 0;
// Loop until temp time is smaller than time2
while ($time2 >= $ttime) {
// Create new temp time from time1 and interval
$add++;
$ttime = strtotime("+" . $add . " " . $interval, $time1);
$looped++;
}
$time1 = strtotime("+" . $looped . " " . $interval, $time1);
$diffs[$interval] = $looped;
}
$count = 0;
$times = array();
// Loop thru all diffs
foreach($diffs as $interval => $value) {
// Break if we have needed precission
if ($count >= $precision) {
break;
}
// Add value and interval
// if value is bigger than 0
if ($value > 0) {
// Add s if value is not 1
if ($value != 1) {
$interval.= "s";
}
// Add value and interval to times array
$times[] = $value . " " . $interval;
$count++;
}
}
if (!empty($times)) {
// Return string with times
return implode(", ", $times);
}
else {
// Return 0 Seconds
}
return '0 Seconds';
}
Solution 21 - Php
The solution for this one I used (back to the days while learning PHP) without any in-functions:
$days = (int)($uptime/86400); //1day = 86400seconds
$rdays = (uptime-($days*86400));
//seconds remaining after uptime was converted into days
$hours = (int)($rdays/3600);//1hour = 3600seconds,converting remaining seconds into hours
$rhours = ($rdays-($hours*3600));
//seconds remaining after $rdays was converted into hours
$minutes = (int)($rhours/60); // 1minute = 60seconds, converting remaining seconds into minutes
echo "$days:$hours:$minutes";
Though this was an old question, new learners who come across this, may find this answer useful.
Solution 22 - Php
a=int(input("Enter your number by seconds "))
d=a//(24*3600) #Days
h=a//(60*60)%24 #hours
m=a//60%60 #minutes
s=a%60 #seconds
print("Days ",d,"hours ",h,"minutes ",m,"seconds ",s)
Solution 23 - Php
I am editing one of the code to work it well when negative value comes. floor() function is not giving the correct count when the value is negative. So we need to use abs() function before using it in the floor() function.
$inputSeconds variable can be the difference between the current time stamp and the required date.
/**
* Convert number of seconds into hours, minutes and seconds
* and return an array containing those values
*
* @param integer $inputSeconds Number of seconds to parse
* @return array
*/
function secondsToTime($inputSeconds) {
$secondsInAMinute = 60;
$secondsInAnHour = 60 * $secondsInAMinute;
$secondsInADay = 24 * $secondsInAnHour;
// extract days
$days = abs($inputSeconds / $secondsInADay);
$days = floor($days);
// extract hours
$hourSeconds = $inputSeconds % $secondsInADay;
$hours = abs($hourSeconds / $secondsInAnHour);
$hours = floor($hours);
// extract minutes
$minuteSeconds = $hourSeconds % $secondsInAnHour;
$minutes = abs($minuteSeconds / $secondsInAMinute);
$minutes = floor($minutes);
// extract the remaining seconds
$remainingSeconds = $minuteSeconds % $secondsInAMinute;
$seconds = abs($remainingSeconds);
$seconds = ceil($remainingSeconds);
// return the final array
$obj = array(
'd' => (int) $days,
'h' => (int) $hours,
'm' => (int) $minutes,
's' => (int) $seconds,
);
return $obj;
}
Solution 24 - Php
A variation on @Glavić's answer - this one hides leading zeros for shorter results and uses plurals in correct places. It also removes unnecessary precision (e.g. if the time difference is over 2 hours, you probably don't care how many minutes or seconds).
function secondsToTime($seconds)
{
$dtF = new \DateTime('@0');
$dtT = new \DateTime("@$seconds");
$dateInterval = $dtF->diff($dtT);
$days_t = 'day';
$hours_t = 'hour';
$minutes_t = 'minute';
$seconds_t = 'second';
if ((int)$dateInterval->d > 1) {
$days_t = 'days';
}
if ((int)$dateInterval->h > 1) {
$hours_t = 'hours';
}
if ((int)$dateInterval->i > 1) {
$minutes_t = 'minutes';
}
if ((int)$dateInterval->s > 1) {
$seconds_t = 'seconds';
}
if ((int)$dateInterval->d > 0) {
if ((int)$dateInterval->d > 1 || (int)$dateInterval->h === 0) {
return $dateInterval->format("%a $days_t");
} else {
return $dateInterval->format("%a $days_t, %h $hours_t");
}
} else if ((int)$dateInterval->h > 0) {
if ((int)$dateInterval->h > 1 || (int)$dateInterval->i === 0) {
return $dateInterval->format("%h $hours_t");
} else {
return $dateInterval->format("%h $hours_t, %i $minutes_t");
}
} else if ((int)$dateInterval->i > 0) {
if ((int)$dateInterval->i > 1 || (int)$dateInterval->s === 0) {
return $dateInterval->format("%i $minutes_t");
} else {
return $dateInterval->format("%i $minutes_t, %s $seconds_t");
}
} else {
return $dateInterval->format("%s $seconds_t");
}
}
php > echo secondsToTime(60);
1 minute
php > echo secondsToTime(61);
1 minute, 1 second
php > echo secondsToTime(120);
2 minutes
php > echo secondsToTime(121);
2 minutes
php > echo secondsToTime(2000);
33 minutes
php > echo secondsToTime(4000);
1 hour, 6 minutes
php > echo secondsToTime(4001);
1 hour, 6 minutes
php > echo secondsToTime(40001);
11 hours
php > echo secondsToTime(400000);
4 days
Solution 25 - Php
Added some formatting modified from Glavić's great answer for Facebook style time of post count up....
function secondsToTime($seconds) {
$dtF = new \DateTime('@0');
$dtT = new \DateTime("@$seconds");
switch($seconds){
case ($seconds<60*60*24): // if time is less than one day
return $dtF->diff($dtT)->format('%h hours, %i minutes, %s seconds');
break;
case ($seconds<60*60*24*31 && $seconds>60*60*24): // if time is between 1 day and 1 month
return $dtF->diff($dtT)->format('%d days, %h hours');
break;
case ($seconds<60*60*24*365 && $seconds>60*60*24*31): // if time between 1 month and 1 year
return $dtF->diff($dtT)->format('%m months, %d days');
break;
case ($seconds>60*60*24*365): // if time is longer than 1 year
return $dtF->diff($dtT)->format('%y years, %m months');
break;
}
Solution 26 - Php
A bit more elaborated, skipping the time units which are zero
function secondsToTime($ss)
{
$htmlOut="";
$s = $ss%60;
$m = floor(($ss%3600)/60);
$h = floor(($ss%86400)/3600);
$d = floor(($ss%2592000)/86400);
$M = floor($ss/2592000);
if ( $M > 0 )
{
$htmlOut.="$M months";
}
if ( $d > 0 )
{
if ( $M > 0 )
$htmlOut.=", ";
$htmlOut.="$d days";
}
if ( $h > 0 )
{
if ( $d > 0 )
$htmlOut.=", ";
$htmlOut.="$h hours";
}
if ( $m > 0 )
{
if ( $h > 0 )
$htmlOut.=", ";
$htmlOut.="$m minutes";
}
if ( $s > 0 )
{
if ( $m > 0 )
$htmlOut.=" and ";
$htmlOut.="$s seconds";
}
return $htmlOut;
}
Solution 27 - Php
I think Carbon will give you all variety that you want
so for your example you will add this code
$seconds = 1640467;
$time = Carbon::now();
$humanTime = $time->diffForHumans($time->copy()->addSeconds($seconds), true, false, 4);
the output will be like this
2 weeks 4 days 23 hours 41 minutes
Solution 28 - Php
foreach ($email as $temp => $value) {
$dat = strtotime($value['subscription_expiration']); //$value come from mysql database
//$email is an array from mysqli_query()
$date = strtotime(date('Y-m-d'));
$_SESSION['expiry'] = (((($dat - $date)/60)/60)/24)." Days Left";
//you will get the difference from current date in days.
}
$value come from Database. This code is in Codeigniter. $SESSION is used for storing user subscriptions. it is mandatory. I used it in my case, you can use whatever you want.
Solution 29 - Php
This is a function i used in the past for substracting a date from another one related with your question, my principe was to get how many days, hours minutes and seconds has left until a product has expired :
$expirationDate = strtotime("2015-01-12 20:08:23");
$toDay = strtotime(date('Y-m-d H:i:s'));
$difference = abs($toDay - $expirationDate);
$days = floor($difference / 86400);
$hours = floor(($difference - $days * 86400) / 3600);
$minutes = floor(($difference - $days * 86400 - $hours * 3600) / 60);
$seconds = floor($difference - $days * 86400 - $hours * 3600 - $minutes * 60);
echo "{$days} days {$hours} hours {$minutes} minutes {$seconds} seconds";