PHP date_diff() function

Last Updated : 17 Mar 2025

This function finds out the difference between the two DateTime objects. It represents the difference of days between two dates.

Syntax

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required/Optional
datetime1	Specifies a DateTime object	Required
datetime2	Specifies a DateTime object	Required
absolute	Specifies a Boolean value	optional

Example 1

<?php
$date1=date_create("2018-03-1");
$date2=date_create("2018-04-1");
$diff=date_diff($date1,$date2);
echo $diff->format("%R%a days");
?>

Output:

+31 days

Example 2

<?php
function dateDiff($start, $end) {
$start_t = strtotime($start);
$end_t = strtotime($end);

$differ = $end_t - $start_t;
return round($differ / 86400);
}
echo dateDiff("2018-04-05", "2018-04-10");
?>

Output:

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