how can i get this to output
HH:MM format?
$to_time = strtotime(\"2008-12-13 10:42:00\"); <--AM
$from_time = strtotime(\"2008-12-14 8:21:00\")
Firstly, 8:21:00 will be interpreted as 8AM unless you specified otherwise using DateTime::createFromFormat().
To work out time differences, use DateTime::diff():
$to = new DateTime("2008-12-13 10:42:00");
$from = new DateTime("2008-12-14 8:21:00");
$stat = $to->diff($from); // DateInterval object
echo $stat->format('%Hh:%Im');
This will display the hour/minute difference between the two times, but only up to 24 hours.
If you need more than 24 hours, you should do the following:
$hours = $stat->days * 24 + $stat->h;
$minutes = $stat->i;
printf('%02sh:%sm', $hours, $minutes);