Is there a way to remove the + sign from date diff? And is it possible to convert it to months?

[imgrooot]

So this is a simple code that finds out the difference between two dates and displays it in number of days.

$date1=date_create("2013-03-15");
$date2=date_create("2013-12-12");
$diff=date_diff($date1,$date2);
echo $diff->format("%R%a days");

// RESULT
+272 days

 

My first question. Is it possible to remove the + sign in the result above?

Second question. Is it possible to show "months" if it's greater than 30 days? And years if the days are greater than 365?

How would I do this?

[maxxd]

There is a way to do both these things. Reading the manual is a great place to start.

[ginerjm]

Feeling magnanimous today, and having struggled to get to the correct source in the manual I"ll give you this one.

Drop The R.

As for showing it in months - the format options only show whole numbers so if you have a gap of less than a month you will show 0 when formatting it.  And if it is more than a month you will get a value of "months" but not the full value of months & days without doing some work on figuring out how many days were in the months that did transpire.

Edited July 17, 2019 by ginerjm

[ginerjm]

As for showing it in months -  The manual does show you how but it is not immediately clear.

After dropping the R, change the a to d

[imgrooot]

2 hours ago, ginerjm said:

As for showing it in months -  The manual does show you how but it is not immediately clear.

After dropping the R, change the a to d

Tried your way and it didn't work. 

Tried it this way and it works.

$diff->format("%a days");

 

[ginerjm]

Yes - that gets you days without the + sign.   My last change was to show the months and leftover days, if you wanted it.

$dt1 = '2009-10-11';
$dt2 = '2009-10-13';
echo "Using dates of $dt1 & $dt2 :<br>";
$interval = GetInterval($dt1, $dt2);
$test = $interval->format('%m');
if ($test > 0)
	echo 'Interval is: '.$interval->format('%m months %d days');
else
	echo 'Interval is: '.$interval->format('%d days');
echo '<br><br>';
//   test 2
$dt1 = '2009-08-14';
$dt2 = '2009-10-13';
echo "Using dates of $dt1 & $dt2 :<br>";
$interval = GetInterval($dt1, $dt2);
$test = $interval->format('%m');
if ($test > 0)
	echo 'Interval is: '.$interval->format('%m months %d days');
else
	echo 'Interval is: '.$interval->format('%d days');
echo '<br><br>';
//   test 3
$dt1 = '2009-07-11';
$dt2 = '2009-09-25';
echo "Using dates of $dt1 & $dt2 :<br>";
$interval = GetInterval($dt1, $dt2);
$test = $interval->format('%m');
if ($test > 0)
	echo 'Interval is: '.$interval->format('%m months %d days');
else
	echo 'Interval is: '.$interval->format('%d days');
echo '<br><br>';
exit();
//******************************************
function GetInterval($dt1, $dt2)
{
	$datetime1 = date_create($dt1);
	$datetime2 = date_create($dt2);
	$interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);
	return $interval;
}

Here is some code for you to try out.

[Barand]

Note that instead of using the format method to get the months value ...

$test = $interval->format('%m');

you can get it directly from the "m" property of the interval object...

$test = $interval->m;

Similarly, you can use the ->days property instead of ->format('%a')

[ginerjm]

Good to know for those who regularly use the OO method of coding!

[Barand]

Not sure what you are trying to say with that comment.

How would you use date intervals without "the OO method of coding"?

[ginerjm]

I don't often code like your example, I use the functions/methods rather than properties.

[Barand]

But

$test = $interval->format('%m');

was your example. Are you claiming that isn't OO?

[ginerjm]

As I said - I prefer the methods, not the properties directly