is there a php function to return the difference between any 2 integer numbers as a positive integer?

As pointed out by @Phylogenesis, you can use the abs() function. For example:

$var1 = -2;
$var2 = -30;

echo abs($var1 - $var2); // 28

You could also define your own function:

function abs_diff($v1, $v2) {
    $diff = $v1 - $v2;
    return $diff < 0 ? (-1) * $diff : $diff;
}

echo abs_diff(-2, -30); // 28

Use the absolute value function of php of the difference of the two numbers.

$answer = abs($num1 - $num2);

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