date_diff

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

date_diffAlias of DateTime::diff()

Description

This function is an alias of: DateTime::diff()

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User Contributed Notes 20 notes

up
195
SunilKmCharde
10 years ago
Powerful Function to get two date difference.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//PARA: Date Should In YYYY-MM-DD Format
//RESULT FORMAT:
// '%y Year %m Month %d Day %h Hours %i Minute %s Seconds'        =>  1 Year 3 Month 14 Day 11 Hours 49 Minute 36 Seconds
// '%y Year %m Month %d Day'                                    =>  1 Year 3 Month 14 Days
// '%m Month %d Day'                                            =>  3 Month 14 Day
// '%d Day %h Hours'                                            =>  14 Day 11 Hours
// '%d Day'                                                        =>  14 Days
// '%h Hours %i Minute %s Seconds'                                =>  11 Hours 49 Minute 36 Seconds
// '%i Minute %s Seconds'                                        =>  49 Minute 36 Seconds
// '%h Hours                                                    =>  11 Hours
// '%a Days                                                        =>  468 Days
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
function dateDifference($date_1 , $date_2 , $differenceFormat = '%a' )
{
    $datetime1 = date_create($date_1);
    $datetime2 = date_create($date_2);
   
    $interval = date_diff($datetime1, $datetime2);
   
    return $interval->format($differenceFormat);
   
}
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6
jab_creations at yahoo dot com
3 years ago
PHP is usually relaxed when it comes to data types however that is not the case with date and time. If all you need to do is compare a string date against today's date you need to do the following:

<?php
//Create a date object out of a string (e.g. from a database):
$date1 = date_create_from_format('Y-m-d', '2026-05-10');

//Create a date object out of today's date:
$date2 = date_create_from_format('Y-m-d', date('Y-m-d'));

//Create a comparison of the two dates and store it in an array:
$diff = (array) date_diff($date1, $date2);

//Output the array:
echo '<pre>'.print_r($diff,1).'</pre>';
?>

This will output the following:

Array
(
    [y] => 4
    [m] => 10
    [d] => 22
    [h] => 0
    [i] => 0
    [s] => 0
    [f] => 0
    [weekday] => 0
    [weekday_behavior] => 0
    [first_last_day_of] => 0
    [invert] => 1
    [days] => 1787
    [special_type] => 0
    [special_amount] => 0
    [have_weekday_relative] => 0
    [have_special_relative] => 0
)

So you can simply use:

<?php
echo $diff['days'];
?>
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54
Sergio Abreu
14 years ago
<?php
/*
* A mathematical decimal difference between two informed dates
*
* Author: Sergio Abreu
* Website: http://sites.sitesbr.net
*
* Features:
* Automatic conversion on dates informed as string.
* Possibility of absolute values (always +) or relative (-/+)
*/

function s_datediff( $str_interval, $dt_menor, $dt_maior, $relative=false){

       if(
is_string( $dt_menor)) $dt_menor = date_create( $dt_menor);
       if(
is_string( $dt_maior)) $dt_maior = date_create( $dt_maior);

      
$diff = date_diff( $dt_menor, $dt_maior, ! $relative);
      
       switch(
$str_interval){
           case
"y":
              
$total = $diff->y + $diff->m / 12 + $diff->d / 365.25; break;
           case
"m":
              
$total= $diff->y * 12 + $diff->m + $diff->d/30 + $diff->h / 24;
               break;
           case
"d":
              
$total = $diff->y * 365.25 + $diff->m * 30 + $diff->d + $diff->h/24 + $diff->i / 60;
               break;
           case
"h":
              
$total = ($diff->y * 365.25 + $diff->m * 30 + $diff->d) * 24 + $diff->h + $diff->i/60;
               break;
           case
"i":
              
$total = (($diff->y * 365.25 + $diff->m * 30 + $diff->d) * 24 + $diff->h) * 60 + $diff->i + $diff->s/60;
               break;
           case
"s":
              
$total = ((($diff->y * 365.25 + $diff->m * 30 + $diff->d) * 24 + $diff->h) * 60 + $diff->i)*60 + $diff->s;
               break;
          }
       if(
$diff->invert)
               return -
1 * $total;
       else    return
$total;
   }

/* Enjoy and feedback me ;-) */
?>
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4
tuxedobob
9 years ago
Even the top rated comment here, Sergio Abreu's, doesn't treat leap years entirely correctly. It should work between 1901 and 2099, but outside that it'll be a little off.

If you want to find out the number of days between two dates, use below. You can change to a different unit from that. It looks a little insane, but keep in mind the full set of rules for leap years:

If the year is divisible by 4, it's a leap year...
- unless the year is divisible by 100, then it isn't...
- - unless the year is divisible by 400, then it really is.

So in the functions below, we find the total numbers of days in full years since the mythical 1/1/0001, then add the number of days before the current one in the year passed. Do this for each date, then return the absolute value of the difference.

function days_diff($d1, $d2) {
    $x1 = days($d1);
    $x2 = days($d2);
   
    if ($x1 && $x2) {
        return abs($x1 - $x2);
    }
}

function days($x) {
    if (get_class($x) != 'DateTime') {
        return false;
    }
   
    $y = $x->format('Y') - 1;
    $days = $y * 365;
    $z = (int)($y / 4);
    $days += $z;
    $z = (int)($y / 100);
    $days -= $z;
    $z = (int)($y / 400);
    $days += $z;
    $days += $x->format('z');

    return $days;
}
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0
Anonymous
3 years ago
This behavior looks really weird to me :

// Just take a date, in Paris
$date = new DateTime('2021-04-01 01:30', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Paris'));
$dateLater = (clone $date);
$dateLater = $dateLater->add(new \DateInterval('P3M')); // add literally 3 months ⏰

// ask the difference :
var_dump(date_diff($date, $dateLater)); // <= 2 months and 30 days 🤯

Why ? Why is it that if I add 3 months it becomes 2 months and 30 days (in the same timezone) ?
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-1
contact-php at openflyers dot com
4 years ago
<?php
/**
* We suppose that PHP is configured in UTC
* php.ini configuration:
* [Date]
* ; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
* ; http://php.net/date.timezone
* date.timezone = UTC
* @link http://php.net/date.timezone
*/

/**
* getDaysBetween2Dates
*
* Return the difference of days between $date1 and $date2 ($date1 - $date2)
* if $absolute parameter is false, the return value is negative if $date2 is after than $date1
*
* @param DateTime $date1
* @param DateTime $date2
* @param Boolean $absolute
*            = true
* @return integer
*/
function getDaysBetween2Dates(DateTime $date1, DateTime $date2, $absolute = true)
{
   
$interval = $date2->diff($date1);
   
// if we have to take in account the relative position (!$absolute) and the relative position is negative,
    // we return negatif value otherwise, we return the absolute value
   
return (!$absolute and $interval->invert) ? - $interval->days : $interval->days;
}

echo
'<h3>2020-03-01 - 2020-02-01: 29 days as it\'s a standard leap year</h3>';
echo
getDaysBetween2Dates(new DateTime("2020-03-01"), new DateTime("2020-02-01"), false);

echo
'<h3>1900-03-01 - 1900-02-01: 28 days as it\'s a "standard" century</h3>';
echo
getDaysBetween2Dates(new DateTime("1900-03-01"), new DateTime("1900-02-01"), false);

echo
'<h3>2000-03-01 - 2000-02-01: 29 days as it\'s a century multiple of 400: 2000=400x5</h3>';
echo
getDaysBetween2Dates(new DateTime("2000-03-01"), new DateTime("2000-02-01"), false);

echo
'<h3>2020-03-01 - 2020-04-01: -28 days as 2020-03-01 is before 2020-04-01</h3>';
echo
getDaysBetween2Dates(new DateTime("2020-02-01"), new DateTime("2020-03-01"), false);
?>
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-7
aleksandar at gvozden dot info
8 years ago
diff from datetime

    /**
     * diff from datetime
     * @param datetime $dt1
     * @param datetime $dt2
     * @return object $dtd (day, hour, min, sec / total)
     */
    static function datetimeDiff($dt1, $dt2){
        $t1 = strtotime($dt1);
        $t2 = strtotime($dt2);

        $dtd = new stdClass();
        $dtd->interval = $t2 - $t1;
        $dtd->total_sec = abs($t2-$t1);
        $dtd->total_min = floor($dtd->total_sec/60);
        $dtd->total_hour = floor($dtd->total_min/60);
        $dtd->total_day = floor($dtd->total_hour/24);

        $dtd->day = $dtd->total_day;
        $dtd->hour = $dtd->total_hour -($dtd->total_day*24);
        $dtd->min = $dtd->total_min -($dtd->total_hour*60);
        $dtd->sec = $dtd->total_sec -($dtd->total_min*60);
        return $dtd;
    }
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-7
vladimir-nt at mail dot ru
9 years ago
My simple function to count up the number of weekdays between the dates (inclusive for both ends), one can add a holidays between the dates to take them into account as well as the weekends, the weekend days could also be changed.

function count_week_days($__date_from, $__date_to, $__holidays_between=array(), $__weekend_days=array(5,6)) {
   $total_days_count = $__date_to > $__date_from ? round(($__date_to - $__date_from)/(24*3600)) : 0;
   $full_weeks_count = floor($total_days_count/7);
   $weekend_days_count = $full_weeks_count*count($__weekend_days);
   $days_left_uncovered = $total_days_count - $full_weeks_count*7;
   for($i = 0; $i < $days_left_uncovered; $i++) {
      $date_to_check = $i ? strtotime("+{$i} day", $__date_from) : $__date_from;
      if(in_array(date('N', $date_to_check), $__weekend_days)) {
         $weekend_days_count++;
      }
   }
   $week_days_count = $total_days_count - $weekend_days_count - count($__holidays_between);
   return $week_days_count;
}

Tests:
print "\n 12.10.2015 to 10.10.2015 diff=".count_week_days(strtotime('12.10.2015'), strtotime('10.10.2015'));
print "\n 12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=".count_week_days(strtotime('12.10.2015'), strtotime('13.10.2015'));
print "\n 12.10.2015 to 15.10.2015 diff=".count_week_days(strtotime('12.10.2015'), strtotime('26.10.2015'));
print "\n 12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=".count_week_days(strtotime('12.10.2015'), strtotime('13.10.2016'));
print "\n 12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=".count_week_days(strtotime('12.10.2015'), strtotime('12.11.2015'));
print "\n 12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=".count_week_days(strtotime('12.10.2015'), strtotime('12.11.2015'), array(strtotime('07.11.2015')));

Results:
12.10.2015 to 10.10.2015 diff=0
12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=1
12.10.2015 to 15.10.2015 diff=10
12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=263
12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=23
12.10.2015 to 13.10.2015 diff=22
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-15
Toine (contact at toine dot pro)
13 years ago
This is a very simple function to calculate the difference between two timestamp values.
<?php
function diff($start,$end = false) {
   
/*
    * For this function, i have used the native functions of PHP. It calculates the difference between two timestamp.
    *
    * Author: Toine
    *
    * I provide more details and more function on my website
    */

    // Checks $start and $end format (timestamp only for more simplicity and portability)
   
if(!$end) { $end = time(); }
    if(!
is_numeric($start) || !is_numeric($end)) { return false; }
   
// Convert $start and $end into EN format (ISO 8601)
   
$start  = date('Y-m-d H:i:s',$start);
   
$end    = date('Y-m-d H:i:s',$end);
   
$d_start    = new DateTime($start);
   
$d_end      = new DateTime($end);
   
$diff = $d_start->diff($d_end);
   
// return all data
   
$this->year    = $diff->format('%y');
   
$this->month    = $diff->format('%m');
   
$this->day      = $diff->format('%d');
   
$this->hour     = $diff->format('%h');
   
$this->min      = $diff->format('%i');
   
$this->sec      = $diff->format('%s');
    return
true;
}

/*
* How use it?
*
* Call your php class (myClass for this example) and use the function :
*/
$start  = strtotime('1985/02/09 13:54:17');
$end    = strtotime('2012/12/12 17:30:21');
$myClass = new myClass();
$myClass->Diff($start,$end);
// Display result
echo 'Year: '.$myClass->Year;
echo
'<br />Month: '.$myClass->Month;
echo
'<br />Day: '.$myClass->Day;
echo
'<br />Hour: '.$myClass->Hour;
echo
'<br />Min: '.$myClass->Min;
echo
'<br />Sec: '.$myClass->Sec;
// Display only month for all duration
$month = ($myClass->Year * 12) + $myClass->Month;
echo
'<br />Total month: '.$month;
// if you want you can use this function without $end value :
$myClass->Diff($start);
// Automatically the end is the current timestamp
?>
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-14
Flavio Tubino
14 years ago
This is a very simple function to calculate the difference between two datetime values, returning the result in seconds. To convert to minutes, just divide the result by 60. In hours, by 3600 and so on.

Enjoy.

<?php
function time_diff($dt1,$dt2){
   
$y1 = substr($dt1,0,4);
   
$m1 = substr($dt1,5,2);
   
$d1 = substr($dt1,8,2);
   
$h1 = substr($dt1,11,2);
   
$i1 = substr($dt1,14,2);
   
$s1 = substr($dt1,17,2);   

   
$y2 = substr($dt2,0,4);
   
$m2 = substr($dt2,5,2);
   
$d2 = substr($dt2,8,2);
   
$h2 = substr($dt2,11,2);
   
$i2 = substr($dt2,14,2);
   
$s2 = substr($dt2,17,2);   

   
$r1=date('U',mktime($h1,$i1,$s1,$m1,$d1,$y1));
   
$r2=date('U',mktime($h2,$i2,$s2,$m2,$d2,$y2));
    return (
$r1-$r2);

}
?>
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-15
Chiheb Nabil
11 years ago
here a little solution of problem of missing date_diff function with php versions below 5.3.0

<?php
function IntervalDays($CheckIn,$CheckOut){
$CheckInX = explode("-", $CheckIn);
$CheckOutX explode("-", $CheckOut);
$date1 mktime(0, 0, 0, $CheckInX[1],$CheckInX[2],$CheckInX[0]);
$date2 mktime(0, 0, 0, $CheckOutX[1],$CheckOutX[2],$CheckOutX[0]);
$interval =($date2 - $date1)/(3600*24);

// returns numberofdays
return  $interval ;

}
?>
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-17
kshegunov at gmail dot com
13 years ago
Here is how I solved the problem of missing date_diff function with php versions below 5.3.0
The function accepts two dates in string format (recognized by strtotime() hopefully), and returns the date difference in an array with the years as first element, respectively months as second, and days as last element.
It should be working in all cases, and seems to behave properly when moving through February.

<?php
       
function dateDifference($startDate, $endDate)
        {
           
$startDate = strtotime($startDate);
           
$endDate = strtotime($endDate);
            if (
$startDate === false || $startDate < 0 || $endDate === false || $endDate < 0 || $startDate > $endDate)
                return
false;
               
           
$years = date('Y', $endDate) - date('Y', $startDate);
           
           
$endMonth = date('m', $endDate);
           
$startMonth = date('m', $startDate);
           
           
// Calculate months
           
$months = $endMonth - $startMonth;
            if (
$months <= 0)  {
               
$months += 12;
               
$years--;
            }
            if (
$years < 0)
                return
false;
           
           
// Calculate the days
                       
$offsets = array();
                        if (
$years > 0)
                           
$offsets[] = $years . (($years == 1) ? ' year' : ' years');
                        if (
$months > 0)
                           
$offsets[] = $months . (($months == 1) ? ' month' : ' months');
                       
$offsets = count($offsets) > 0 ? '+' . implode(' ', $offsets) : 'now';

                       
$days = $endDate - strtotime($offsets, $startDate);
                       
$days = date('z', $days);   
                       
            return array(
$years, $months, $days);
        }
?>
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-6
qrworld.net
10 years ago
Here you have in this post http://softontherocks.blogspot.com/2014/12/calcular-la-edad-con-php.html the code to get the age of a person specifying the date of birth:

function getAge($birthdate){
    $adjust = (date("md") >= date("md", strtotime($birthdate))) ? 0 : -1; // Si aún no hemos llegado al día y mes en este año restamos 1
    $years = date("Y") - date("Y", strtotime($birthdate)); // Calculamos el número de años
    return $years + $adjust; // Sumamos la diferencia de años más el ajuste
}
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-13
Azuro
9 years ago
I had to find the difference between two days (here is my solution without Date_diff()) :

$current_date = date("U") /* to have it in microseconds */
$selected_date_stamp = mktime(0,0,0,$your_month,$your_day,$your_year);
$selected_date = date("U",$selected_date_stamp);
$difference = round (($current_date - $selected_date)/(3600*24));
echo "The difference is :" . $difference . "<br/>";
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-13
tom at knapp2meter dot tk
15 years ago
A simple way to get the time lag (format: <hours>.<one-hundredth of one hour>).

Hier ein einfacher Weg zur Bestimmung der Zeitdifferenz (Format: <Stunden>.<hundertstel Stunde>).

<?php

function GetDeltaTime($dtTime1, $dtTime2)
{
 
$nUXDate1 = strtotime($dtTime1->format("Y-m-d H:i:s"));
 
$nUXDate2 = strtotime($dtTime2->format("Y-m-d H:i:s"));

 
$nUXDelta = $nUXDate1 - $nUXDate2;
 
$strDeltaTime = "" . $nUXDelta/60/60; // sec -> hour
           
 
$nPos = strpos($strDeltaTime, ".");
  if (
nPos !== false)
   
$strDeltaTime = substr($strDeltaTime, 0, $nPos + 3);

  return
$strDeltaTime;
}

?>
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-23
programacion at mundosica dot com
12 years ago
Other data_diff aviable for php5.3>=

<?php
// Author: el pinche <fitorec>

function otherDiffDate($end='2020-06-09 10:30:00', $out_in_array=false){
       
$intervalo = date_diff(date_create(), date_create($end));
       
$out = $intervalo->format("Years:%Y,Months:%M,Days:%d,Hours:%H,Minutes:%i,Seconds:%s");
        if(!
$out_in_array)
            return
$out;
       
$a_out = array();
       
array_walk(explode(',',$out),
        function(
$val,$key) use(&$a_out){
           
$v=explode(':',$val);
           
$a_out[$v[0]] = $v[1];
        });
        return
$a_out;
}
?>

#example 1
<?php
echo otherDiffDate();
?>
out1
       Years:08,Months:01,Days:22,Hours:17,Minutes:5,Seconds:26

example2
<?php
print_r
(otherDiffDate('2020-01-01 20:30:00',true));
?>
out2
Array
(
    [Years] => 07
    [Months] => 08
    [Days] => 15
    [Hours] => 03
    [Minutes] => 3
    [Seconds] => 48
)
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-8
maniarpratik at gmail dot com
9 years ago
This function will return count of sunday between inputed dates.

<?php
function CountSunday($from,$to)
{
  
$from=date('d-m-Y',strtotime($from));
$to=date('d-m-Y',strtotime($to));
$cnt=0;
$nodays=(strtotime($to) - strtotime($from))/ (60 * 60 * 24); //it will count no. of days
$nodays=$nodays+1;
           for(
$i=0;$i<$nodays;$i++)
            {     
               
$p=0;
            list(
$d, $m, $y) = explode("-",$from);
           
$datetime = strtotime("$d-$m-$y");          
           
$nextday = date('d-m-Y',strtotime("+1 day", $datetime));  //this will add one day in from date (from date + 1)
           
if($i==0)                          
               
$p=date('w',strtotime($from));                          
            else
               
$p=date('w',strtotime($nextday));
          
            if(
$p==0)            // check whethere value is 0 then its sunday
               
$cnt++;                                //count variable of sunday                      
            
$from=$nextday;        
            
$p++;          
            }           
  return
$cnt;
}
?>
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-17
jesushuertaarrabal at gmail dot com
10 years ago
A way to verify a correct date getting your age

if (isset($_POST['birthday'])){
     if (preg_match("/^[0-9]{4}-[0-1][0-9]-[0-3][0-9]$/",$_POST['birthday'])){
          $items = explode("-", $_POST['birthday']);
           if (checkdate($items[1], $items[2], $items[0])){ //checkdate(m-d-y)
               //If you were born in a lip-year or lip - 1, then we have to add 5 days, else, we add 4 days
                if ((0 == $items[0] % 4) && (0 != $items[0] % 100) || (0 == $items[0] % 400))
                 $bis = 4;
                else
                 $bis = 5;
            if (date_diff(date_create($_POST['birthday']) , date_create(date('Y-m-d')))->format("%R%a days") > (6569 + $bis)) //365*18
                 $print .= 'Birthday date: ' . $_POST['birthday'] . '<br>';
            else
                 $error[] = -1;
           }else
                $error[] = -2;
      }else
           $error[] = -3;
     }else
    $error[] = -4;
}
up
-11
vglebov at gmail dot com
13 years ago
Get the difference between the dates without days off

<?php
function get_date_diff($date1, $date2) {
 
$holidays = 0;
  for (
$day = $date2; $day < $date1; $day += 24 * 3600) {
   
$day_of_week = date('N', $day);
    if(
$day_of_week > 5) {
     
$holidays++;
    }
  }
  return
$date1 - $date2 - $holidays * 24 * 3600;
}

function
test_get_date_diff()
{
 
$datas = array(
    array(
'Fri 20 May 2011 14:00:00', 'Fri 20 May 2011 13:00:00', 1 * 3600),
    array(
'Sat 21 May 2011 15:00:00', 'Fri 20 May 2011 13:00:00', 2 * 3600),
    array(
'Sun 22 May 2011 16:00:00', 'Fri 20 May 2011 13:00:00', 3 * 3600),
    array(
'Mon 23 May 2011 14:00:00', 'Fri 20 May 2011 13:00:00', 25 * 3600),
    array(
'Fri 27 May 2011 13:00:00', 'Fri 13 May 2011 13:00:00', 24 * 10 * 3600),
  );
  foreach (
$datas as &$data) {
   
$actual = get_date_diff(strtotime($data[0]), strtotime($data[1]));
    if (
$actual != $data[2]) {
      echo
"Test for get_date_diff faled expected {$data[2]} but was {$actual}, date1: {$data[0]}, date2: {$data[1]}.<br>";
    }
  }
}
test_get_date_diff($data);
?>
up
-8
paez903 at hotmail dot com
7 years ago
I do not have much programming in php and I hope I can help those that I want to do is that when entering in the form the date 1 and the date2 I calculate if between those two dates if they have passed 5 or more years and I add 3 more days taking As reference date 2, I do not know if I understand.

To see a theoretical example date = 10/01/2012 date2 = 23/07/2017

Between these two dates have passed 5 years, 6 months, and 13 days elapsed

Knowing this my serious conditional

If they are equal or more than 5 years but less than 10 years will be added 3 days
If they are equal or more than 10 years but less than 15 years will be added 6 days
If they are equal or more than 15 years but less than 20 years will be added 9 days
If they are equal to or more than 20 years will be added 12 days

Then having the conditionals

For this example would be case as it is greater than 5 years the result that I should show taking in days, having as date of departure the date2 = 23/07/2017 and to this date it is added 30 days that would be a constant and depending on the Years as the example happens 5 years would be: date2 = 23/07/2017 + 30 days = 08/30/2017 + 3 days
= End date to show = result = 02/09/2017.

But I still think how to do it if you can guide me I would appreciate a world, and everything should show without pressing buttons, if I press a button would be like to store in the database only the results otenidos as date1 date2 and result

<? Php
    
// $ date1 = $ _ POST ["date1"]; // this will be the first date or date of entry
// $ date2 = $ _ POST ["date2"]; // this will be the date with which you will calculate
    
// $ difference = $ date2 - $ date1;

// if ($ difference <= 5)
{
    // echo "number of days that correspond to it [". $ Date2 + 30 + 3. "].";

//} else {

// ($ difference <= 5)

{
// echo "number of days corresponding to it [" $ date2 + 30 "].";

}

 ?>
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