Working with time

[GingerRobot]

Im looking for an easy way to find out how long has passed betweed two times that are in the mysql datetime format, for instance:
2006-08-02 01:01:37

I have made a function that explodes the string into its components and then uses mktime() to get a unix timestamp and then compare the 2 unix timestamps, but this seems long winded way of going about. Is there something more simple?


Here is the function i was using:
[code]
<?php
function to_time($datetime){
  $seperate = explode(" ",$datetime);
  $date = explode("-",$seperate[0]);
  $years = $date[0];
  $months = $date[1];
  $days = $date[2];
  $time = explode(":",$seperate[1]);
  $hours = $time[0];
  $minutes = $time[1];
  $seconds = $time[2];
  $timestamp = mktime($hours,$minutes,$seconds,$months,$days,$years);
return $timestamp;
}
?>
[/code]

Any help would be much appreciated.

[ronverdonk]

Ever used MySql functions DATEDIFF() and TIMEDIFF()?

Ronald  ;D

[GingerRobot]

No, and i dont think those would quite do as i want because one of times in question is generated by the php script.

But ive just realised i dont need to use the function i made because i can use another mysql function, UNIX_TIMESTAMP, to convert the one from the database and just generate a unix timestamp in php.

Doh!

Thanks anyway :D