Difference with microseconds precision between two DateTime in PHP

Question

I can get a datetime with microseconds in PHP with a workaround as:

list($usec, $sec) = explode(" ", microtime());
echo date("Y-m-d\TH:i:s", $sec) . "." . floatval($usec)*pow(10,6);

I need the difference with microseconds between two datetimes, can't get a workaround for:

$datetime1 = new DateTime('2013-08-14 18:49:58.606');
$datetime2 = new DateTime('2013-08-14 22:27:19.272');
$interval = $datetime1->diff($datetime2);
echo $interval->format('%h hours %i minutes %s seconds %u microseconds');

DateInterval::format doesn't has the format character %u or equivalent for microseconds.

Anyone knows a workaround for this?

Saunders

DateInterval does not support microseconds. And also DateTime does not support them. All points that you have to do all related calculations manually to achieve such precision. – Emitter

DateTime::createFromFormat() added the u format fairly recently (PHP 5.5?), though I can't find any evidence that it's supported by DAteInterval – Kythera

@Baldrs I know, but with time functions is easy to make errors, I'm asking for a workaround, a non standard solution. – Saunders

@MarkBaker I'm using PHP 5.5.1 %u is printed as such – Saunders

Do you expect the same format as Y-m-d H:i:s.(microseconds)? Then you can get microseconds using a regex, calculate difference between them manually and insert it inside format string. – Emitter

For reference, PHP 7.1 has added F and f for microseconds (with and without leading zeroes respectively) to DateInterval::format. – Krystynakshatriya

Answer 1

Manually creating a DateTime object with micro seconds:

$d = new DateTime("15-07-2014 18:30:00.111111");

Getting a DateTime object of the current time with microseconds:

$d = date_format(new DateTime(),'d-m-Y H:i:s').substr((string)microtime(), 1, 8);

Difference between two DateTime objects in microseconds (e.g. returns: 2.218939)

//Returns the difference, in seconds, between two datetime objects including
//the microseconds:

function mdiff($date1, $date2){
//Absolute val of Date 1 in seconds from  (EPOCH Time) - Date 2 in seconds from (EPOCH Time)
$diff = abs(strtotime($date1->format('d-m-Y H:i:s.u'))-strtotime($date2->format('d-m-Y H:i:s.u')));

//Creates variables for the microseconds of date1 and date2
$micro1 = $date1->format("u");
$micro2 = $date2->format("u");

//Absolute difference between these micro seconds:
$micro = abs($micro1 - $micro2);

//Creates the variable that will hold the seconds (?):
$difference = $diff.".".$micro;

return $difference;
}

Essentially it finds the difference for the DateTime Objects using strtotime and then adding the extra microseconds on.

Pronuba

Why are you using strtotime($date1->format('d-m-Y H:i:s.u')) instead of strtotime($date1->format('d-m-Y H:i:s'))? – Kimmel

I guess it doesn't make a difference as the u value will always be the same – Pronuba

your code have bug, for these data: 2021-01-27 11:56:19.198768 and 2021-01-27 11:56:20.199023 , return 1.255 , but correction was: 1.000255 – Dialectology

Answer 2

/**
 * returns the difference in seconds.microseconds(6 digits) format between 2 DateTime objects 
 * @param DateTime $date1
 * @param DateTime $date2
 */
function mdiff($date1, $date2){
    return number_format(abs((float)$date1->format("U.u") - (float)$date2->format("U.u")), 6);
}

Privity

works well, for these data: 2021-01-27 11:56:19.198768 and 2021-01-27 11:56:20.199023 , return 1.000255 – Dialectology

Answer 3

Since PHP 7.1 (2016-12-01) there is %f and %F for microseconds precision, but just from 7.2 (2017-11-30) it is safe to use due to the critical date bugs in 7.1 (Tested)

The working example:

<?php
$datetime1 = new DateTime('2013-08-14 18:49:58.800');
$datetime2 = new DateTime('2013-08-14 22:27:19.900');
$interval = $datetime1->diff($datetime2);
echo $interval->format('%h hours %i minutes %s seconds %f microseconds');

PD: Answering my own question posted 4 years before the existence of %f

Saunders

Answer 4

I had to replace this

$micro = abs($micro1 - $micro2);

with this

str_pad(abs($micro1 - $micro2), 6, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);

to get the correct microtime for some reason.

Phenanthrene

Answer 5

function mdiff($date1, $date2){
  //Absolute val of Date 1 in seconds from  (EPOCH Time) - Date 2 in seconds from (EPOCH Time)
  $diff = abs(strtotime($date1->format('d-m-Y H:i:s.u'))-strtotime($date2->format('d-m-Y H:i:s.u')));

  //Creates variables for the microseconds of date1 and date2
  $micro1 = $date1->format("u");
  $micro2 = $date2->format("u");

  //Difference between these micro seconds:
  $diffmicro = $micro1 - $micro2;

  list($sec,$micro) = explode('.',((($diff) * 1000000) + $diffmicro )/1000000);

  //Creates the variable that will hold the seconds (?):
  $difference = $sec . "." . str_pad($micro,6,'0');

  return $difference;
}

This function returns the correct difference

Example:
    Start:"2016-10-27 17:17:52.576801"
    End:"2016-10-27 17:18:00.385801"
    Difference:"7.809000"

    Old Function:
    Difference:"8.191000"

Revels

your code have bug, for these data: 2021-01-27 11:56:19.198768 and 2021-01-27 11:56:20.199023 , return 0.998759 , but correction was: 1.000255 – Dialectology

Answer 6

Shorter version with float returned

function diff(\DateTimeInterface $a, \DateTimeInterface $b): float
{
    return ($a->getTimestamp() - $b->getTimestamp()) + ($a->format("u") - $b->format("u")) / 1000000;
}

Spinthariscope

for these data: 2021-01-27 11:56:19.198768 and 2021-01-27 11:56:20.199023 , return -1.000255 , I thinks better return positive number. – Dialectology