<?php
    $today = strtotime("2011-02-03 00:00:00");
    $myBirthDate = strtotime("1964-10-30 00:00:00");
    printf("Days since my birthday: ", ($today - $myBirthDate)/60/60/24);
?>

function showTime($time){

    $start      = strtotime($time);
    $end        = strtotime(date("Y-m-d H:i:s"));
    $minutes    = ($end - $start)/60;


    // years 
    if(($minutes / (60*24*365)) > 1){
        $years = floor($minutes/(60*24*365));
        return "From $years year( s ) ago";
    }


    // monthes 
    if(($minutes / (60*24*30)) > 1){
        $monthes = floor($minutes/(60*24*30));
        return "From $monthes monthe( s ) ago";
    }


    // days 
    if(($minutes / (60*24)) > 1){
        $days = floor($minutes/(60*24));
        return "From $days day( s ) ago";
    }

    // hours 
    if(($minutes / 60) > 1){
        $hours = floor($minutes/60);
        return "From $hours hour( s ) ago";
    }

    // minutes 
    if($minutes > 1){
        $minutes = floor($minutes);
        return "From $minutes minute( s ) ago";
    }
}

echo showTime('2022-05-05 21:33:00');

最好的做法是使用PHP的DateTime（和DateInterval）对象。每个日期都封装在DateTime对象中，然后可以在两者之间进行区别：

$first_date = new DateTime("2012-11-30 17:03:30");
$second_date = new DateTime("2012-12-21 00:00:00");

DateTime对象将接受strtotime（）的任何格式。如果需要更具体的日期格式，则可以使用DateTime:：createFromFormat（）创建DateTime对象。

两个对象实例化后，使用DateTime:：diff（）从另一个对象中减去一个对象。

$difference = $first_date->diff($second_date);

$difference现在保存一个包含差异信息的DateInterval对象。var_dump（）如下所示：

object(DateInterval)
  public 'y' => int 0
  public 'm' => int 0
  public 'd' => int 20
  public 'h' => int 6
  public 'i' => int 56
  public 's' => int 30
  public 'invert' => int 0
  public 'days' => int 20

要格式化DateInterval对象，我们需要检查每个值，如果值为0，则将其排除：

/**
 * Format an interval to show all existing components.
 * If the interval doesn't have a time component (years, months, etc)
 * That component won't be displayed.
 *
 * @param DateInterval $interval The interval
 *
 * @return string Formatted interval string.
 */
function format_interval(DateInterval $interval) {
    $result = "";
    if ($interval->y) { $result .= $interval->format("%y years "); }
    if ($interval->m) { $result .= $interval->format("%m months "); }
    if ($interval->d) { $result .= $interval->format("%d days "); }
    if ($interval->h) { $result .= $interval->format("%h hours "); }
    if ($interval->i) { $result .= $interval->format("%i minutes "); }
    if ($interval->s) { $result .= $interval->format("%s seconds "); }

    return $result;
}

现在剩下的就是调用$differenceDateInterval对象上的函数：

echo format_interval($difference);

我们得到了正确的结果：

20天6小时56分30秒

用于实现目标的完整代码：

/**
 * Format an interval to show all existing components.
 * If the interval doesn't have a time component (years, months, etc)
 * That component won't be displayed.
 *
 * @param DateInterval $interval The interval
 *
 * @return string Formatted interval string.
 */
function format_interval(DateInterval $interval) {
    $result = "";
    if ($interval->y) { $result .= $interval->format("%y years "); }
    if ($interval->m) { $result .= $interval->format("%m months "); }
    if ($interval->d) { $result .= $interval->format("%d days "); }
    if ($interval->h) { $result .= $interval->format("%h hours "); }
    if ($interval->i) { $result .= $interval->format("%i minutes "); }
    if ($interval->s) { $result .= $interval->format("%s seconds "); }

    return $result;
}

$first_date = new DateTime("2012-11-30 17:03:30");
$second_date = new DateTime("2012-12-21 00:00:00");

$difference = $first_date->diff($second_date);

echo format_interval($difference);

您可以使用

getdate()

函数，该函数返回包含所提供日期/时间的所有元素的数组：

$diff = abs($endDate - $startDate);
$my_t=getdate($diff);
print("$my_t[year] years, $my_t[month] months and $my_t[mday] days");

如果开始和结束日期为字符串格式，则使用

$startDate = strtotime($startDateStr);
$endDate = strtotime($endDateStr);

在上述代码之前

由于每个人都在发布代码示例，这里有另一个版本。

我想要一个函数来显示从秒到年的差异（仅一个单位）。对于超过1天的时段，我希望它在午夜滚动（周一上午10点到周三上午9点是2天前，而不是1天前）。对于超过一个月的时间段，我希望滚动在当月的同一天（包括30/31天的月份和闰年）。

这就是我想到的：

/**
 * Returns how long ago something happened in the past, showing it
 * as n seconds / minutes / hours / days / weeks / months / years ago.
 *
 * For periods over a day, it rolls over at midnight (so doesn't depend
 * on current time of day), and it correctly accounts for month-lengths
 * and leap-years (months and years rollover on current day of month).
 *
 * $param string $timestamp in DateTime format
 * $return string description of interval
 */
function ago($timestamp)
{
    $then = date_create($timestamp);

    // for anything over 1 day, make it rollover on midnight
    $today = date_create('tomorrow'); // ie end of today
    $diff = date_diff($then, $today);

    if ($diff->y > 0) return $diff->y.' year'.($diff->y>1?'s':'').' ago';
    if ($diff->m > 0) return $diff->m.' month'.($diff->m>1?'s':'').' ago';
    $diffW = floor($diff->d / 7);
    if ($diffW > 0) return $diffW.' week'.($diffW>1?'s':'').' ago';
    if ($diff->d > 1) return $diff->d.' day'.($diff->d>1?'s':'').' ago';

    // for anything less than 1 day, base it off 'now'
    $now = date_create();
    $diff = date_diff($then, $now);

    if ($diff->d > 0) return 'yesterday';
    if ($diff->h > 0) return $diff->h.' hour'.($diff->h>1?'s':'').' ago';
    if ($diff->i > 0) return $diff->i.' minute'.($diff->i>1?'s':'').' ago';
    return $diff->s.' second'.($diff->s==1?'':'s').' ago';
}

对于php版本>=5.3：创建两个日期对象，然后使用date_diff（）函数。它将返回phpDateInterval对象。请参阅文档

$date1=date_create("2007-03-24");
$date2=date_create("2009-06-26");
$diff=date_diff($date1,$date2);
echo $diff->format("%R%a days");