Comparing DateTime?

Question

I've been doing a good amount of research with this, and used a few codes to get to know how to make this work, but nothing has worked the way I wanted it to, or hasn't worked at all.

The code is:

<?php $time1 = $user['last_active']; $time2 = "+5 minutes"; if (strtotime($time1) > strtotime($time2)) { echo "Online!"; }else{ echo "Offline!"; } ?>

It is supposed to compare the two variables, and find out if the last active variable is greater or less than 5 minutes, and if it is greater, appear offline. I do not know what's wrong as the NOW() updates on each page and stops if the user is not logged in. Any suggestions or help? Thanks.

The $time1 variable is coming from a fetched array that gets the ['last_active'] information that updates on each page.

I fixed my code, but it still doesn't work right, however, I think I have managed to get further than I was..

<?php $first = new DateTime(); $second = new DateTime($user['last_active']); $diff = $first->diff( $second ); $diff->format( '%H:%I:%S' ); if($diff->format( '%H:%I:%S' ) > (strtotime("5 minutes"))){ echo "Offline"; }else{ echo "Online"; } ?>

What can I do at this point?

Edited my comment, take a look at the tiny example code... hope that works out for you. — Grmn
– Grmn, Commented Apr 1, 2013 at 2:44

Jon Watte · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-09 18:43:09Z

Nobody pointed out that you actually have a bug. The "current time" will never be greater than "the current time +5 minutes"

Your first code sample will work right if you instead use "-5 minutes" as the "online threshold."

Also, comparing a timestamp without date to the output of strtotime() as you do in the second code is not a proper comparison. It has two problems:

Each time a new day comes around, the same time value will be repeated.
The output of strtotime is an integer representing seconds-since-epoch; the output of format() is a textual representation of hours:minutes:seconds within the current date.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:49:56Z

As for your question how to calculate time between 2 dates / time, please view the solution on the following posts, that should give you enough information! (duplicate ? )

Calculate elapsed time in php

And here

How to get time difference in minutes in PHP

EDIT AS YOU PLEASE

<? $first = new DateTime(); // this would hold your [last active] //$first->modify("-6 minutes"); $second = new DateTime("NOW"); $difference = $second->diff( $first ); // second diff first if ($difference->format('%i') > 5) { // comparing minutes only in example ( %i ) echo "The user is AFK"; } else { echo "user might still be active"; } ?>

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