- strtotime: documentation ( source)
<?php
$date1 = "2013-03-01 19:12:45";
$date2 = "2014-03-01 06:37:04";
//Convert them to timestamps.
$date1Timestamp = strtotime($date1);
$date2Timestamp = strtotime($date2);
//Calculate the difference.
$difference = $date2Timestamp - $date1Timestamp;
echo $difference;