strtotime and date, having trouble

phence

I am trying to change a string from a database into a timestamp so the timestamp can be broken down into, days/hours/mins

the format of the string in the database is as follows:
'07-07-2003 11:07:01 PM CDT' or 'm-d-Y hⓂs A T'

here's what i have tried:

// make the date a timestamp 
$otstamp = strtotime($row['exp']);  

/* ALSO TRIED: $otstamp = date('m-d-Y h:m:s', strtotime($row['exp'])); 

AND: $otstamp = date('m-d-Y h:m:s A T', strtotime($row['exp']));  */

// Get the number of seconds: 
$seconds = $otstamp - time();  

//echo "difference in seconds: " . seconds; 
$days = (int)($seconds / (60 * 60 * 24));  

$r = (int)($seconds % (60 * 60 * 24));  

$hours = (int)($r / (60 * 60));  

$r = (int)($r % (60 * 60));  

$minutes = (int)($r / 60);    

$timeleft = $days  . "d " . $hours . "h " . $minutes . "m ";

unfortunatly i am getting a bogus output like...
3761d 10h 36m

Anyone know how i can get this to work correctly?

Your Help is appreciated!

The_Chancer

The info you have given doesn't seem to add up.

The number of days approximates to 10 years (give or take) but what was the original date in the timestamp ?

Does it relate to the number of days since timestamp start (1970) ?

Are you trying to compare this to something else and work out the number of days inbetween ?

phence

The number of days approximates to 10 years (give or take) but what was the original date in the timestamp ?

what do you mean? the number in the database? the number in the database is a string value in the formats i have shown in my first post

Does it relate to the number of days since timestamp start (1970) ?

again, the number in the database is a number between 1970 and 2034.

Are you trying to compare this to something else and work out the number of days inbetween ?

well, yes the days between now and the '$row['exp']' value after it is converted into a timestamp and renamed $otstamp.

$seconds = $otstamp - time();

that should find out how many seconds are inbetween now and the date provided in the $otstamp.
and from there the seconds is divided and % down to days hours and minutes

thank-you, hopfully my question is more clear now?

barand

I got closer than you by massaging the date format

// make the date a timestamp
$otstamp = strtotime('2003-07-07 11:07:01' );

// Get the number of seconds NB time() - $otstamp to give +ve difference):
$seconds = time() - $otstamp;
$days = (int)($seconds / (60 * 60 * 24));
$r = (int)($seconds % (60 * 60 * 24));
$hours = (int)($r / (60 * 60));
$r = (int)($r % (60 * 60));
$minutes = (int)($r / 60);

echo "<br><br>" . $days  . "d " . $hours . "h " . $minutes . "m ";

hth

phence

what do you mean? i have to be able to use the convertied value from the database.

anyone have a solution? thanks!

edwardsbc

From what I can tell from the manual on strtotime and the GNU date input formats , your database time stamp is not in a supported format for [man]strtotime()[/man]. You probably need to fix the date part from mm-dd-yyyy to yyyy-mm-dd for strtotime to work properly.

The rest of the database timestamp (for time and time zone) seem to be compatible.

Weedpacket

Originally posted by edwardsbc
From what I can tell from the manual on strtotime and the GNU date input formats , your database time stamp is not in a supported format for [man]strtotime()[/man].

That's true; the given format is not supported because strtotime can't tell if 08-09-2003 is the 9th of August or (as most people would have read it) the 8th of September.

If you have to use that format for some reason, you'll need to parse the string yourself; either a bunch of substr() calls ot else a single sscanf() can do the job.

phence

well one point, i'm not sure if ur confused or not.. but the data in my database is not a timestamp, it's just varchar (string) ..

but i'll try rearanging the date order...

Thanks!

The_Chancer

If it is just a string - try using the month NAME instead...

okuto1973

This simple code make difference between server-time and a time created by $ora,$minuti,$secondi,$mese,$giorno,$anno (all in unix time)

$finetime=mktime($ora,$minuti,$secondi,$mese,$giorno,$anno);

echo " DF=$finetime ";
$differenza=$finetime-$datatime;
$prova=date("Y-m-d H:i:s",$finetime)-date("Y-m-d H:i:s",time());
echo " PROVA=$prova ";
echo " DIFFERENZA=$differenza ";
$giornirimasti=intval($differenza/86400);
$d1=$differenza-($giornirimasti86400);
$orerimaste=intval($d1/3600);
$d2=$d1-($orerimaste3600);
$minutirimasti=intval($d2/60);
$d3=$d2-($minutirimasti*60);
$secondirimasti=$d3;
$temporimasto="";

if ($giornirimasti!=0)
{
$temporimasto=$giornirimasti." giorni, ";
$temporimasto.=$orerimaste." ore+";
}
else
{
if ($orerimaste!=0)
{
$temporimasto.=$orerimaste." ore,";
$temporimasto.=$minutirimasti." min.+";
}
else
{
$temporimasto.=$minutirimasti." min.";
$temporimasto.=$secondirimasti." sec.";
}
}

The best way if u need to output a difference between two local time is to make a javascript program passing the two number in unix time ,this help to use minor cpu server using the client computer!!!!

phence

thanks for the post, but i'm not sure i understand ur code...

it doesn't look like i am going to be able to change the format of the date in the database 🙁

phence

may i ask what format, can be accepted? or will produce the correct out put? in terms of date('m-d-Y hⓂs A T')?

thanks alot!

edwardsbc

Ok, lets see if we can fix this.

the format of the string in the database is as follows:
'07-07-2003 11:07:01 PM CDT' or 'm-d-Y hⓂs A T'

To make it compatible with [man]strtotime()[/man] it needs to be in this format:
'yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss PM CDT'

So we need to split off the date part, re-arrange year/month/day, join them back together and then pass them to strtotime().

// make the date a timestamp 
$otstamp=strtotime($row['exp']);
// separate the parts - Note: if the month and day
// are not always two digits this will have to be done
// a bit differently.  I'm assuming two digits always.
$datepart=substr($otstamp,0,9);
$timepart=substr($otstamp,10);
// explode the date
$datepieces=explode('-',$datepart);
// reassemble the pieces in the proper order
$datepart=$datepieces[2].'-'.$datepieces[0].'-'.$datepieces[1];
// put the date and time back together
$otstamp=$datepart.$timepart;
// process as you did before...

phence

thank-you... i don't know if i'm getting closer or futher away...

here my code using edwardsbc's method:

				// Find out timeleft
				// make the date a timestamp 
				$otstamp = strtotime($row['exp']); 

			// separate the parts - Note: if the month and day 
			// are not always two digits this will have to be done 
			// a bit differently.  I'm assuming two digits always. 
			$datepart=substr($otstamp,0,9); 
			$timepart=substr($otstamp,10); 

			// explode the date 
			$datepieces=explode('-',$datepart); 

			// reassemble the pieces in the proper order 
			$datepart=$datepieces[2].'-'.$datepieces[0].'-'.$datepieces[1]; 

			// put the date and time back together 
			$otstamp=$datepart.$timepart; 
			// process as you did before...

			// make the date a timestamp 
			echo $row['exp'];
			echo "<br>". $otstamp;
			// Get the number of seconds NB time() - $otstamp to give +ve difference): 
			$seconds = time() - $otstamp; 
			$days = (int)($seconds / (60 * 60 * 24)); 
			$r = (int)($seconds % (60 * 60 * 24)); 
			$hours = (int)($r / (60 * 60)); 
			$r = (int)($r % (60 * 60)); 
			$minutes = (int)($r / 60); 

			$timeleft = $days  . "d " . $hours . "h " . $minutes . "m ";

=====

this my output form the code:

$row['exp']: 07-17-2003 11:07:01 PM CDT
$otstamp: -138267402-

what is the correct date format for the strtotime(); function ??

edwardsbc

I'm sorry, my bad! Try this:

// make the date a timestamp 
// DON'T DO STRTOTIME YET!
$otstamp=$row['exp']; 
// separate the parts - Note: if the month and day 
// are not always two digits this will have to be done 
// a bit differently.__I'm assuming two digits always. 
$datepart=substr($otstamp,0,9); 
$timepart=substr($otstamp,10); 
// explode the date 
$datepieces=explode('-',$datepart); 
// reassemble the pieces in the proper order 
$datepart=$datepieces[2].'-'.$datepieces[0].'-'.$datepieces[1]; 
// put the date and time back together 
$otstamp=$datepart.$timepart; 
// NOW DO STRTOTIME
$otstamp=strtotime($otstamp);
// process as you did before...

I messed up, obviously. You could have just used $row['exp'] throughout my example and generated $otstamp at the end.

phence

well it's looking a little better i think...

				// make the date a timestamp 
				// DON'T DO STRTOTIME YET! 
				$otstamp=$row['exp'];  

				// separate the parts - Note: if the month and day 
				// are not always two digits this will have to be done 
				// a bit differently.__I'm assuming two digits always. 
				$datepart=substr($otstamp,0,9);  

				$timepart=substr($otstamp,10);  

				// explode the date 
				$datepieces=explode('-',$datepart);  

				// reassemble the pieces in the proper order 
				$datepart=$datepieces[2].'-'.$datepieces[0].'-'.$datepieces[1];  

				// put the date and time back together 
				$otstamp=$datepart.$timepart;  

				// NOW DO STRTOTIME 
				$otstamp=strtotime($otstamp); 

			// make the date a timestamp 
			echo $row['exp'];
			echo "<br>". $otstamp;
			// Get the number of seconds NB time() - $otstamp to give +ve difference): 
			$seconds = time() - $otstamp; 
			$days = (int)($seconds / (60 * 60 * 24)); 
			$r = (int)($seconds % (60 * 60 * 24)); 
			$hours = (int)($r / (60 * 60)); 
			$r = (int)($r % (60 * 60)); 
			$minutes = (int)($r / 60); 

			$timeleft = $days  . "d " . $hours . "h " . $minutes . "m ";

at the point where i echo everything, i get this output... still not correct but it's a timestamp, i think.

Output:
07-17-2003 11:07:01 PM CDT
-138267402-

timeleft: 13844d 1h 14m

thanks for the help anyway

barand

$otstamp=$row['exp'];
                // separate the parts - Note: if the month and day
// are not always two digits this will have to be done
// a bit differently.__I'm assuming two digits always.
list($datepart,$timepart) = explode(' ',$otstamp);
// explode the date
list($m,$d,$y) = explode('-',$datepart);
// reassemble the pieces in the proper order
$datepart = "$y-$m-$d ";
// put the date and time back together
$otstamp=$datepart.$timepart;
// NOW DO STRTOTIME
$otstamp=strtotime($otstamp);

// make the date a timestamp
echo $row['exp'];
echo "<br>". $otstamp;
// Get the number of seconds NB time() - $otstamp to give +ve difference):
$seconds = abs(time() - $otstamp);
$days = (int)($seconds / (60 * 60 * 24));
$r = (int)($seconds % (60 * 60 * 24));
$hours = (int)($r / (60 * 60));
$r = (int)($r % (60 * 60));
$minutes = (int)($r / 60);

$timeleft = $days  . "d " . $hours . "h " . $minutes . "m ";
echo "<br>$timeleft";

hth

phence

SWEET!! IT WORKS! I knew i had to do that, but i don't know the right format! thank-you so much dude!