add two or more time strings in php

Question

I have an array with times (string) e.g "2:23", "3:2:22" etc.

$times = array("2:33", "4:2:22", "3:22") //loner

I want to find the total sum of all array.

Is there a way that I could add times like "2:33" and "3:33" ("i:s")

thanks

Answer 1

So you want to add a duration to a time, meaning add a number of hours, minutes and seconds to a time?

Perhaps you might use Dav's strtotime to get the seconds from midnight for the time, then add the duration using an sscanf, thus:

$midnight = strtotime("0:00");

// ssm = seconds since midnight
$ssm1 = strtotime("2:33") - $midnight;

// sscanf the time string... you might need to include the possibility of seconds
list($hour, $minute) = sscanf("3:33", "%d:%d");

// a
$answer_ssm = $ssm + $hour * 3600 + $minute * 60;

echo strftime("%H:%M:%S", $answer_ssm);

Can't test this from where I am so pls excuse any syntax errors... just trying to give an example. You'll also need to iterate across your array of course.

Answer 2

There is no builtin way of doing this - all time functions operate on times, not on durations. In your case, you can explode() and add the parts separately. I would recommend writing a class. Simple example:

class Duration {

    public static function fromString($string) {
        $parts = explode(':', $string);
        $object = new self();
        if (count($parts) === 2) {
            $object->minutes = $parts[0];
            $object->seconds = $parts[1];
        } elseif (count($parts) === 3) {
            $object->hours = $parts[0];
            $object->minutes = $parts[1];
            $object->seconds = $parts[2];
        } else {
            // handle error
        }
        return $object;
    }

    private $hours;
    private $minutes;
    private $seconds;

    public function getHours() {
        return $this->hours;
    }

    public function getMinutes() {
        return $this->minutes;
    }

    public function getSeconds() {
        return $this->seconds;
    }

    public function add(Duration $d) {
        $this->hours += $d->hours;
        $this->minutes += $d->minutes;
        $this->seconds += $d->seconds;
        while ($this->seconds >= 60) {
            $this->seconds -= 60;
            $this->minutes++;
        }
        while ($this->minutes >= 60) {
            $this->minutes -= 60;
            $this->hours++;
        }
    }

    public function __toString() {
        return implode(':', array($this->hours, $this->minutes, $this->seconds));
    }

}

$d1 = Duration::fromString('2:22');
$d1->add(Duration::fromString('3:33'));
echo $d1; // should print 5:55

Answer 3

You might want to look at the PHP date/time functions - one option would be to use something like strtotime():

$midnight = strtotime("0:00");

// ssm = seconds since midnight
$ssm1 = strtotime("2:33") - $midnight;
$ssm2 = strtotime("3:33") - $midnight;

// This gives you the total seconds since midnight resulting from the sum of the two
$totalseconds = $ssm1 + $ssm2; // will be 21960 (6 hours and 6 minutes worth of seconds)

// If you want an output in a time format again, this will format the output in
// 24-hour time:
$formattedTime = date("G:i", $midnight + totalseconds);

// $formattedTime winds up as "6:06"