将个别格式化的 output 参数分配到变量（或数组）中 - PHP

Question

I have the output of a time difference displayed using the following code:

$interval = $timenow->diff($datatime);
$elapsed = $interval->format('%y years %m months %a days %h hours %i minutes %s seconds');

An example displayed output is:

0 years 0 months 2 days 9 hours 22 minutes 46 seconds

I would like to assign the individual values displayed into variables so as to do some calculations on those variables. (I don't only just want to display the values), I would like to assign, say: $years = y, $months = m, and so on, so that I can work with the year, month, minutes and seconds as variables.

How might I do this?

Answer 1

I would simply format your variable into individual variables like so:

$dateTime = new DateTime(); // Any DateTime object, this is using the current date and time as an example. 

$year = $dateTime->format('Y');
$month = $dateTime->format('m');
$hour = $dateTime->format('h');
$minute = $dateTime->format('i');
$second = $dateTime->format('s');

Answer 2

There is no need to create the variables manually. All these values are already available to you inside your $interval object. The DateInterval class (which is the return type of diff ) specifies properties:

/* Properties */
public int $y ;
public int $m ;
public int $d ;
public int $h ;
public int $i ;
public int $s ;
public float $f ;
public int $invert ;
public mixed $days ;

where $y , $m , $d , $h , $i and $s hold the values you need (from years to seconds). Thus, you can simply evoke the property you need (for example, $interval->m to get the months value).