Question

I use this function to set a time date("Y-m-d H:i:s", strtotime("+2 minutes"). Now I want to compare that value with the current time to find the amount of seconds it’s left.

For example compare: $next_action = 2011-01-16 18:03:00 and $now = 2011-01-16 18:01:23. To find the amount of seconds.

Answer 1

strtotime can convert mysql timestamps to unix timestamps. so you just convert both of them to UNIX timestamps and subtract one from other, and you’ll get the difference in seconds.

$next_action = "2011-01-16 18:03:00";
$now = "2011-01-16 18:01:23";

echo strtotime($next_action)-strtotime($now);

Why did you convert them to “Y-m-d H:i:s” in the first place? Unix timestamps are much easier to work with.