Difference In Time Between Timestamps

[xProteuSx]

I am having trouble finding the time between two timestamps. I have tried to research this, but I don't even understand this timestamp format. This is the format for the data I am given (I have no choice in this!):

 

2012-12-13T11:34:16.771Z

 

I don't even know what the T and Z stand for! .. and I can't seem to figure it out.

 

I have a second date to compare to this. For example:

 

2012-12-13T12:04:29.000Z

 

I have to figure out the difference in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

 

There must be a php function that can return the difference, if only in seconds (I can handle it from there).

 

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[Christian F.]

The "Z" stands for "Zulu", or otherwise known as GMT+0. The "T" is just syntactical sugar, to separate the date and time aspect of the timestamp. That format is otherwise known as ISO 8601.

 

Though, to easily calculate the differences between these two timestamps, I'd use the DateTime class.

[xProteuSx]

Awesome, thanks for the pointer. I was trying to follow this:

 

http://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/96654-ebay-time/page__hl__+ebay%20+timestamp#entry494620

[xProteuSx]

Man, this timestamp is ridiculous (I am a noob).

 

Here is what I have tried to do:

 

$endtime = 2012-12-13T12:36:59.000Z;

$curtime = 2012-12-13T12:12:44.723Z;

 

Find the difference (the difference should be around 25min);

 

Here is what I have tried:

 

 

$endtime = strtotime($endtime);

$curtime = strtotime($curtime);

echo date_sub($auc_endtime,$ebaytime);

 

The issue is that I get the following error:

 

Warning: date_sub() expects parameter 1 to be DateTime, integer given

 

 

Should I be using date_parse?

 

The issue for me is that I have to use something lightweight. I am comparing two timestamps; one is from eBay so I have to make an API call which delays my page loading time, the other is a timestamp from a database. The whole point is to speed up the process of calculating days, hours, minutes, and seconds between these timestamps.

[xProteuSx]

Think I've got it figured out:

 

 

$auctime = date_parse($endtime);

$ebaytime = date_parse($curtime);

 

if (($auctime["month"] <= $ebaytime["month"]) && ($auctime["day"] <= $ebaytime["day"]) && ($auctime["hour"] <= $ebaytime["hour"]) && ($auctime["minute"] <= $ebaytime["minute"]) && ($auctime["second"] <= $ebaytime["second"]))

{//auction is over}

 

... seems to be getting it done.

[kicken]

You should be using the DateTime class (or date_create if you want to stick procedural).  Also you want to be using the DateTime::diff/date_diff function, not sub.

 

$d1 = new DateTime($endtime);
$d2 = new DateTime($curtime);

$diff = $d1->diff($d2);
var_dump($diff);