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I need to find the difference between the two dates. Say i have 2017-02-01 - 2017-01-01. The number of days between the two days is the output

$formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse($a->date)->format('Y-m-d');
$formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse($c->dt)->format('Y-m-d');
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2);
If I give the above code I get the error as
FatalThrowableError in ReportsController.php line 67:
Call to a member function diffInDays() on string
                While all those answers are correct, you should specify date and dt to be dates in the corresponding model - see laravel.com/docs/5.7/eloquent-mutators#date-mutators for more information
– Daniel Steiner
                Feb 27, 2019 at 14:18
Carbon format() function will convert to string so remove format('Y-m-d') like this:
$formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse($a->date);
$formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse($c->dt);
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2);
Hope you understand. You can see docs here.
You can use diffInDays for days.
You can use diffInHours for Hours.
You can use diffInMinutes for Minutes.
You can use DiffInSeconds for Seconds.
    $formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse('2019-09-26 00:00:00');
    $formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse('2019-09-28 00:00:00');
    $date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2);
    echo $date_diff.' Day '; //2 days
    $hours_diff = $formatted_dt1->diffInHours($formatted_dt2); 
    echo $date_diff.' Hours '; //48 Hours 
    $Minutesdiff = $formatted_dt1->diffInMinutes($formatted_dt2); 
    echo $Minutesdiff.' Minutes '; //2880 Minutes
    $seconddiff = $formatted_dt1->DiffInSeconds($formatted_dt2); 
    echo $seconddiff.' Seconds '; //172800  Seconds
    exit;
$formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse($a->date);
$formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse($c->dt);
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2)->format('Y-m-d');
First get the difference from two dates and then format the date.
You can only use the diffInDays() function on a Carbon instance at before date format apply. 
$formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse($a->date);
$formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse($c->dt);
Now you should be able to compare:
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2);
if you want to apply date format, try below for compare them:
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2)->format('Y-m-d');
Check this document for further detail.
You are having this problem because you stored your date as string in the database. You can perform diffInDays($updated_at) or diffInDays($created_at) on the original laravel's created_at and updated_at because Laravel already stores them as dates by default so, when you are fetching them from the database, laravel gives it to you as a carborn instance (try dd($created_at)).
To solve your problem, go to your model and use this to convert your date column to dates
protected $dates = [
'my_date',
'my_other_date'
Then, you can now do
$formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse($a->date)->format('Y-m-d');
$formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse($c->dt)->format('Y-m-d');
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2);
OR You can use
Carbon\Carbon::parse($formatted_dt1)->diffInDays()
If you remove format() carbon  format() it will convert string, so remove it,it will works,
$formatted_dt1=Carbon::parse($a->date);
$formatted_dt2=Carbon::parse($c->dt);
$date_diff=$formatted_dt1->diffInDays($formatted_dt2);
        
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