Convert string to time in php

Question

How to convert "2011-11-03T17:27:56Z" to time in php.

I want time difference from current time.

i.e. if time difference from current time is 10 minutes the I want 10 minutes. If its 1 day then I want 1 day.

Answer 1

This little snippet will give you the difference in seconds between now and the given date.

$dateString = "2011-11-03T17:27:56Z";
$date = strtotime($dateString);
$diff = time() - $date;
echo $diff;

To give it the specific format you're asking for you can use the below function I found here:

function time_diff($s) { 
    $m = 0; $hr = 0; $d = 0; $td = "now";
    if ($s > 59) { 
        $m = (int)($s/60); 
        $s = $s-($m*60); // sec left over 
        $td = "$m min"; 
    } 
    if ($m > 59) { 
        $hr = (int)($m / 60); 
        $m = $m - ($hr*60); // min left over 
        $td = "$hr hr"; 
        if ($hr > 1) {
            $td .= "s";
        }
        if ($m > 0) {
            $td .= ", $m min";
        }
    } 
    if ($hr > 23) { 
        $d = (int) ($hr / 24); 
        $hr = $hr-($d*24); // hr left over 
        $td = "$d day"; 
        if ($d > 1) {
            $td .= "s";
        }
        if ($d < 3) { 
            if ($hr > 0) {
                $td .= ", $hr hr";
            }
            if ($hr > 1) {
                $td .= "s";
            }
        } 
    } 
    return $td; 
} 

Combining the both this is what you get:

$dateString = "2011-11-03T17:27:56Z";
$date = strtotime($dateString);
$diff = time() - $date;
echo time_diff($diff);

Outputs:

8 days

Answer 2

$diffInSecs = time() - strtotime('2011-11-03T17:27:56Z');

Answer 3

Working example: (codepad here)

<?php

$time_str = "2011-11-03T17:27:56Z";

//echo date('d/m/y H:i:s', strtotime($time_str));
$diff = abs(strtotime("now") - strtotime($time_str)); 

$years   = floor($diff / (365*60*60*24)); 
$months  = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24) / (30*60*60*24)); 
$days    = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24 - $months*30*60*60*24)/ (60*60*24));
$hours   = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24 - $months*30*60*60*24 - $days*60*60*24)/ (60*60)); 
$minuts  = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24 - $months*30*60*60*24 - $days*60*60*24 - $hours*60*60)/ 60); 
$seconds = floor(($diff - $years * 365*60*60*24 - $months*30*60*60*24 - $days*60*60*24 - $hours*60*60 - $minuts*60)); 
printf("%d years, %d months, %d days, %d hours, %d minuts\n, %d seconds\n", $years, $months, $days, $hours, $minuts, $seconds);

(time diff took here: How to calculate the difference between two dates using PHP?)