使用示例：

echo time_diff_string('2013-05-01 00:22:35', 'now');
echo time_diff_string('2013-05-01 00:22:35', 'now', true);

输出：

4 months ago
4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 1 hour, 49 minutes, 15 seconds ago

功能：

function time_diff_string($from, $to, $full = false) {
    $from = new DateTime($from);
    $to = new DateTime($to);
    $diff = $to->diff($from);

    $diff->w = floor($diff->d / 7);
    $diff->d -= $diff->w * 7;

    $string = array(
        'y' => 'year',
        'm' => 'month',
        'w' => 'week',
        'd' => 'day',
        'h' => 'hour',
        'i' => 'minute',
        's' => 'second',
    );
    foreach ($string as $k => &$v) {
        if ($diff->$k) {
            $v = $diff->$k . ' ' . $v . ($diff->$k > 1 ? 's' : '');
        } else {
            unset($string[$k]);
        }
    }

    if (!$full) $string = array_slice($string, 0, 1);
    return $string ? implode(', ', $string) . ' ago' : 'just now';
}

我建议使用DateTime和DateInterval对象。

$date1 = new DateTime("2007-03-24");
$date2 = new DateTime("2009-06-26");
$interval = $date1->diff($date2);
echo "difference " . $interval->y . " years, " . $interval->m." months, ".$interval->d." days "; 

// shows the total amount of days (not divided into years, months and days like above)
echo "difference " . $interval->days . " days ";

阅读更多php DateTime:：diff手册

根据手册：

从PHP 5.2.2开始，DateTime对象可以使用比较运算符进行比较。

$date1 = new DateTime("now");
$date2 = new DateTime("tomorrow");

var_dump($date1 == $date2); // bool(false)
var_dump($date1 < $date2);  // bool(true)
var_dump($date1 > $date2);  // bool(false)

我有一些简单的逻辑：

<?php
    per_days_diff('2011-12-12','2011-12-29')
    function per_days_diff($start_date, $end_date) {
        $per_days = 0;
        $noOfWeek = 0;
        $noOfWeekEnd = 0;
        $highSeason=array("7", "8");

        $current_date = strtotime($start_date);
        $current_date += (24 * 3600);
        $end_date = strtotime($end_date);

        $seassion = (in_array(date('m', $current_date), $highSeason))?"2":"1";

        $noOfdays = array('');

        while ($current_date <= $end_date) {
            if ($current_date <= $end_date) {
                $date = date('N', $current_date);
                array_push($noOfdays,$date);
                $current_date = strtotime('+1 day', $current_date);
            }
        }

        $finalDays = array_shift($noOfdays);
        //print_r($noOfdays);
        $weekFirst = array("week"=>array(),"weekEnd"=>array());
        for($i = 0; $i < count($noOfdays); $i++)
        {
            if ($noOfdays[$i] == 1)
            {
                //echo "This is week";
                //echo "<br/>";
                if($noOfdays[$i+6]==7)
                {
                    $noOfWeek++;
                    $i=$i+6;
                }
                else
                {
                    $per_days++;
                }
                //array_push($weekFirst["week"],$day);
            }
            else if($noOfdays[$i]==5)
            {
                //echo "This is weekend";
                //echo "<br/>";
                if($noOfdays[$i+2] ==7)
                {
                    $noOfWeekEnd++;
                    $i = $i+2;
                }
                else
                {
                    $per_days++;
                }
                //echo "After weekend value:- ".$i;
                //echo "<br/>";
            }
            else
            {
                $per_days++;
            }
        }

        /*echo $noOfWeek;
          echo "<br/>";
          echo $noOfWeekEnd;
          echo "<br/>";
          print_r($per_days);
          echo "<br/>";
          print_r($weekFirst);
        */

        $duration = array("weeks"=>$noOfWeek, "weekends"=>$noOfWeekEnd, "perDay"=>$per_days, "seassion"=>$seassion);
        return $duration;
      ?>

// If you just want to see the year difference then use this function.
// Using the logic I've created you may also create month and day difference
// which I did not provide here so you may have the efforts to use your brain.
// :)
$date1='2009-01-01';
$date2='2010-01-01';
echo getYearDifference ($date1,$date2);
function getYearDifference($date1=strtotime($date1),$date2=strtotime($date2)){
    $year = 0;
    while($date2 > $date1 = strtotime('+1 year', $date1)){
        ++$year;
    }
    return $year;
}

我想带来一个稍微不同的视角，这似乎没有被提及。

你可以用声明的方式解决这个问题（就像任何其他问题一样）。重点是问你需要什么，而不是如何到达那里。

在这里，你需要与众不同。但这有什么不同？这是一个间隔，正如在最受欢迎的答案中所提到的。问题是如何获取它。您可以不显式调用diff（）方法，而是按开始日期和结束日期创建一个间隔，即按日期范围：

$startDate = '2007-03-24';
$endDate = '2009-06-26';
$range = new FromRange(new ISO8601DateTime($startDate), new ISO8601DateTime($endDate));

所有诸如闰年之类的复杂问题都已经解决了。现在，当您有一个固定开始日期时间的间隔时，您可以获得一个人类可读的版本：

var_dump((new HumanReadable($range))->value());

它输出的正是你所需要的。

如果您需要一些自定义格式，这也不是问题。您可以使用ISO8601格式化类，该类接受具有六个参数的调用：年、月、日、小时、分钟和秒：

(new ISO8601Formatted(
    new FromRange(
        new ISO8601DateTime('2017-07-03T14:27:39+00:00'),
        new ISO8601DateTime('2018-07-05T14:27:39.235487+00:00')
    ),
    function (int $years, int $months, int $days, int $hours, int $minutes, int $seconds) {
        return $years >= 1 ? 'More than a year' : 'Less than a year';
    }
))
    ->value();

它的产量超过一年。

有关此方法的更多信息，请查看快速入门条目。

这将尝试检测是否给定了时间戳，并将返回未来的日期/时间作为负值：

<?php

function time_diff($start, $end = NULL, $convert_to_timestamp = FALSE) {
  // If $convert_to_timestamp is not explicitly set to TRUE,
  // check to see if it was accidental:
  if ($convert_to_timestamp || !is_numeric($start)) {
    // If $convert_to_timestamp is TRUE, convert to timestamp:
    $timestamp_start = strtotime($start);
  }
  else {
    // Otherwise, leave it as a timestamp:
    $timestamp_start = $start;
  }
  // Same as above, but make sure $end has actually been overridden with a non-null,
  // non-empty, non-numeric value:
  if (!is_null($end) && (!empty($end) && !is_numeric($end))) {
    $timestamp_end = strtotime($end);
  }
  else {
    // If $end is NULL or empty and non-numeric value, assume the end time desired
    // is the current time (useful for age, etc):
    $timestamp_end = time();
  }
  // Regardless, set the start and end times to an integer:
  $start_time = (int) $timestamp_start;
  $end_time = (int) $timestamp_end;

  // Assign these values as the params for $then and $now:
  $start_time_var = 'start_time';
  $end_time_var = 'end_time';
  // Use this to determine if the output is positive (time passed) or negative (future):
  $pos_neg = 1;

  // If the end time is at a later time than the start time, do the opposite:
  if ($end_time <= $start_time) {
    $start_time_var = 'end_time';
    $end_time_var = 'start_time';
    $pos_neg = -1;
  }

  // Convert everything to the proper format, and do some math:
  $then = new DateTime(date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $$start_time_var));
  $now = new DateTime(date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $$end_time_var));

  $years_then = $then->format('Y');
  $years_now = $now->format('Y');
  $years = $years_now - $years_then;

  $months_then = $then->format('m');
  $months_now = $now->format('m');
  $months = $months_now - $months_then;

  $days_then = $then->format('d');
  $days_now = $now->format('d');
  $days = $days_now - $days_then;

  $hours_then = $then->format('H');
  $hours_now = $now->format('H');
  $hours = $hours_now - $hours_then;

  $minutes_then = $then->format('i');
  $minutes_now = $now->format('i');
  $minutes = $minutes_now - $minutes_then;

  $seconds_then = $then->format('s');
  $seconds_now = $now->format('s');
  $seconds = $seconds_now - $seconds_then;

  if ($seconds < 0) {
    $minutes -= 1;
    $seconds += 60;
  }
  if ($minutes < 0) {
    $hours -= 1;
    $minutes += 60;
  }
  if ($hours < 0) {
    $days -= 1;
    $hours += 24;
  }
  $months_last = $months_now - 1;
  if ($months_now == 1) {
    $years_now -= 1;
    $months_last = 12;
  }

  // "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November" ;)
  if ($months_last == 9 || $months_last == 4 || $months_last == 6 || $months_last == 11) {
    $days_last_month = 30;
  }
  else if ($months_last == 2) {
    // Factor in leap years:
    if (($years_now % 4) == 0) {
      $days_last_month = 29;
    }
    else {
      $days_last_month = 28;
    }
  }
  else {
    $days_last_month = 31;
  }
  if ($days < 0) {
    $months -= 1;
    $days += $days_last_month;
  }
  if ($months < 0) {
    $years -= 1;
    $months += 12;
  }

  // Finally, multiply each value by either 1 (in which case it will stay the same),
  // or by -1 (in which case it will become negative, for future dates).
  // Note: 0 * 1 == 0 * -1 == 0
  $out = new stdClass;
  $out->years = (int) $years * $pos_neg;
  $out->months = (int) $months * $pos_neg;
  $out->days = (int) $days * $pos_neg;
  $out->hours = (int) $hours * $pos_neg;
  $out->minutes = (int) $minutes * $pos_neg;
  $out->seconds = (int) $seconds * $pos_neg;
  return $out;
}

示例用法：

<?php
  $birthday = 'June 2, 1971';
  $check_age_for_this_date = 'June 3, 1999 8:53pm';
  $age = time_diff($birthday, $check_age_for_this_date)->years;
  print $age;// 28

Or:

<?php
  $christmas_2020 = 'December 25, 2020';
  $countdown = time_diff($christmas_2020);
  print_r($countdown);