这将有助于....

function get_time($date,$nosuffix=''){
    $datetime = new DateTime($date);
    $interval = date_create('now')->diff( $datetime );
    if(empty($nosuffix))$suffix = ( $interval->invert ? ' ago' : '' );
    else $suffix='';
    //return $interval->y;
    if($interval->y >=1)        {$count = date(VDATE, strtotime($date)); $text = '';}
    elseif($interval->m >=1)    {$count = date('M d', strtotime($date)); $text = '';}
    elseif($interval->d >=1)    {$count = $interval->d; $text = 'day';} 
    elseif($interval->h >=1)    {$count = $interval->h; $text = 'hour';}
    elseif($interval->i >=1)    {$count = $interval->i; $text = 'minute';}
    elseif($interval->s ==0)    {$count = 'Just Now'; $text = '';}
    else                        {$count = $interval->s; $text = 'second';}
    if(empty($text)) return '<i class="fa fa-clock-o"></i> '.$count;
    return '<i class="fa fa-clock-o"></i> '.$count.(($count ==1)?(" $text"):(" ${text}s")).' '.$suffix;     
}

以上答案适用于较旧版本的PHP。使用DateTime类来进行任何日期计算，因为PHP 5.3是标准的。 如。

$start_date = new DateTime('2007-09-01 04:10:58');
$since_start = $start_date->diff(new DateTime('2012-09-11 10:25:00'));
echo $since_start->days.' days total<br>';
echo $since_start->y.' years<br>';
echo $since_start->m.' months<br>';
echo $since_start->d.' days<br>';
echo $since_start->h.' hours<br>';
echo $since_start->i.' minutes<br>';
echo $since_start->s.' seconds<br>';

$since_start是一个DateInterval对象。注意，days属性是可用的(因为我们使用了DateTime类的diff方法来生成DateInterval对象)。

上面的代码将输出:

1837天总共5年0个月10天6小时14分2秒

获取总分钟数:

$minutes = $since_start->days * 24 * 60;
$minutes += $since_start->h * 60;
$minutes += $since_start->i;
echo $minutes.' minutes';

这将输出:

2645654分钟

也就是这两个日期之间的实际分钟数。DateTime类将考虑夏令时(取决于时区)，而“旧方法”不会考虑。阅读有关日期和时间的手册http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.datetime.php

<?php
$date1 = time();
sleep(2000);
$date2 = time();
$mins = ($date2 - $date1) / 60;
echo $mins;
?>

这就是我如何显示“xx次前”在php > 5.2 ..这里是DateTime对象的更多信息

//Usage:
$pubDate = $row['rssfeed']['pubDates']; // e.g. this could be like 'Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:26:00 GMT'
$diff = ago($pubDate);    // output: 23 hrs ago

// Return the value of time different in "xx times ago" format
function ago($timestamp)
{

    $today = new DateTime(date('y-m-d h:i:s')); // [2]
    //$thatDay = new DateTime('Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:26:00 GMT');
    $thatDay = new DateTime($timestamp);
    $dt = $today->diff($thatDay);

    if ($dt->y > 0){
        $number = $dt->y;
        $unit = "year";
    } else if ($dt->m > 0) {
        $number = $dt->m;
        $unit = "month";
    } else if ($dt->d > 0) {
        $number = $dt->d;
        $unit = "day";
    } else if ($dt->h > 0) {
        $number = $dt->h;
        $unit = "hour";
    } else if ($dt->i > 0) {
        $number = $dt->i;
        $unit = "minute";
    } else if ($dt->s > 0) {
        $number = $dt->s;
        $unit = "second";
    }
    
    $unit .= $number  > 1 ? "s" : "";
 
    $ret = $number." ".$unit." "."ago";
    return $ret;
}

一个更通用的版本，返回日，小时，分钟或秒的结果，包括分数/小数:

function DateDiffInterval($sDate1, $sDate2, $sUnit='H') {
//subtract $sDate2-$sDate1 and return the difference in $sUnit (Days,Hours,Minutes,Seconds)
    $nInterval = strtotime($sDate2) - strtotime($sDate1);
    if ($sUnit=='D') { // days
        $nInterval = $nInterval/60/60/24;
    } else if ($sUnit=='H') { // hours
        $nInterval = $nInterval/60/60;
    } else if ($sUnit=='M') { // minutes
        $nInterval = $nInterval/60;
    } else if ($sUnit=='S') { // seconds
    }
    return $nInterval;
} //DateDiffInterval

$date1=date_create("2020-03-15");
$date2=date_create("2020-12-12");
$diff=date_diff($date1,$date2);
echo $diff->format("%R%a days");

有关详细的格式说明，请访问链接。