php - How to get date from dateTime object -

i'm trying compare 2 dates - check difference between them in minutes. code is:

$first_date = new datetime($token->created_at);  $first_date->format('y-m-d h:i:s');    $second_date = new datetime();  $second_date->format('y-m-d h:i:s');    $difference = $first_date->diff($second_date);  $time_diff = $difference->format("%i");    var_dump($first_date);    //i object  object(datetime)#552 (3) {    ["date"]=>    string(26) "2016-04-21 10:00:00.000000"    ["timezone_type"]=>    int(3)    ["timezone"]=>    string(3) "utc"  }

how date datetime object, should compare 2 dates , check difference betwen them. thanks.

$difference_in_hours = (($second_date->gettimestamp() - $first_date->gettimestamp())/3600); 

if difference between 2 dates greater 60 minutes:

if($difference_in_hours>1) {   //if so, insert desired code here }