How do I find the time difference between two datetime objects in python?

Question

How do I tell the time difference in minutes between two datetime objects?

Answer 1

If a, b are datetime objects then to find the time difference between them in Python 3:

from datetime import timedelta

time_difference = a - b
time_difference_in_minutes = time_difference / timedelta(minutes=1)

On earlier Python versions:

time_difference_in_minutes = time_difference.total_seconds() / 60

If a, b are naive datetime objects such as returned by datetime.now() then the result may be wrong if the objects represent local time with different UTC offsets e.g., around DST transitions or for past/future dates. More details: Find if 24 hrs have passed between datetimes - Python.

To get reliable results, use UTC time or timezone-aware datetime objects.

Answer 2

This is my approach using mktime.

from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from time import mktime

yesterday = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=1)
today = datetime.now()

difference_in_seconds = abs(mktime(yesterday.timetuple()) - mktime(today.timetuple()))
difference_in_minutes = difference_in_seconds / 60

Answer 3

I have used time differences for continuous integration tests to check and improve my functions. Here is simple code if somebody need it

from datetime import datetime

class TimeLogger:
    time_cursor = None

    def pin_time(self):
        global time_cursor
        time_cursor = datetime.now()

    def log(self, text=None) -> float:
        global time_cursor

        if not time_cursor:
            time_cursor = datetime.now()

        now = datetime.now()
        t_delta = now - time_cursor

        seconds = t_delta.total_seconds()

        result = str(now) + ' tl -----------> %.5f' % seconds
        if text:
            result += "   " + text
        print(result)

        self.pin_time()

        return seconds


time_logger = TimeLogger()

Using:

from .tests_time_logger import time_logger
class Tests(TestCase):
    def test_workflow(self):
    time_logger.pin_time()

    ... my functions here ...

    time_logger.log()

    ... other function(s) ...

    time_logger.log(text='Tests finished')

and i have something like that in log output

2019-12-20 17:19:23.635297 tl -----------> 0.00007
2019-12-20 17:19:28.147656 tl -----------> 4.51234   Tests finished

Answer 4

Using datetime example

>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> then = datetime(2012, 3, 5, 23, 8, 15)        # Random date in the past
>>> now  = datetime.now()                         # Now
>>> duration = now - then                         # For build-in functions
>>> duration_in_s = duration.total_seconds()      # Total number of seconds between dates

Duration in years

>>> years = divmod(duration_in_s, 31536000)[0]    # Seconds in a year=365*24*60*60 = 31536000.

Duration in days

>>> days  = duration.days                         # Build-in datetime function
>>> days  = divmod(duration_in_s, 86400)[0]       # Seconds in a day = 86400

Duration in hours

>>> hours = divmod(duration_in_s, 3600)[0]        # Seconds in an hour = 3600

Duration in minutes

>>> minutes = divmod(duration_in_s, 60)[0]        # Seconds in a minute = 60

Duration in seconds

[!] See warning about using duration in seconds in the bottom of this post

>>> seconds = duration.seconds                    # Build-in datetime function
>>> seconds = duration_in_s

Duration in microseconds

[!] See warning about using duration in microseconds in the bottom of this post

>>> microseconds = duration.microseconds          # Build-in datetime function

Total duration between the two dates

>>> days    = divmod(duration_in_s, 86400)        # Get days (without [0]!)
>>> hours   = divmod(days[1], 3600)               # Use remainder of days to calc hours
>>> minutes = divmod(hours[1], 60)                # Use remainder of hours to calc minutes
>>> seconds = divmod(minutes[1], 1)               # Use remainder of minutes to calc seconds
>>> print("Time between dates: %d days, %d hours, %d minutes and %d seconds" % (days[0], hours[0], minutes[0], seconds[0]))

or simply:

>>> print(now - then)

---

Edit 2019 Since this answer has gained traction, I'll add a function, which might simplify the usage for some

from datetime import datetime

def getDuration(then, now = datetime.now(), interval = "default"):

    # Returns a duration as specified by variable interval
    # Functions, except totalDuration, returns [quotient, remainder]

    duration = now - then # For build-in functions
    duration_in_s = duration.total_seconds() 
    
    def years():
      return divmod(duration_in_s, 31536000) # Seconds in a year=31536000.

    def days(seconds = None):
      return divmod(seconds if seconds != None else duration_in_s, 86400) # Seconds in a day = 86400

    def hours(seconds = None):
      return divmod(seconds if seconds != None else duration_in_s, 3600) # Seconds in an hour = 3600

    def minutes(seconds = None):
      return divmod(seconds if seconds != None else duration_in_s, 60) # Seconds in a minute = 60

    def seconds(seconds = None):
      if seconds != None:
        return divmod(seconds, 1)   
      return duration_in_s

    def totalDuration():
        y = years()
        d = days(y[1]) # Use remainder to calculate next variable
        h = hours(d[1])
        m = minutes(h[1])
        s = seconds(m[1])

        return "Time between dates: {} years, {} days, {} hours, {} minutes and {} seconds".format(int(y[0]), int(d[0]), int(h[0]), int(m[0]), int(s[0]))

    return {
        'years': int(years()[0]),
        'days': int(days()[0]),
        'hours': int(hours()[0]),
        'minutes': int(minutes()[0]),
        'seconds': int(seconds()),
        'default': totalDuration()
    }[interval]

# Example usage
then = datetime(2012, 3, 5, 23, 8, 15)
now = datetime.now()

print(getDuration(then)) # E.g. Time between dates: 7 years, 208 days, 21 hours, 19 minutes and 15 seconds
print(getDuration(then, now, 'years'))      # Prints duration in years
print(getDuration(then, now, 'days'))       #                    days
print(getDuration(then, now, 'hours'))      #                    hours
print(getDuration(then, now, 'minutes'))    #                    minutes
print(getDuration(then, now, 'seconds'))    #                    seconds

Warning: Caveat about built-in .seconds and .microseconds
datetime.seconds and datetime.microseconds are capped to [0,86400) and [0,10^6) respectively.

They should be used carefully if timedelta is bigger than the max returned value.

Examples:

end is 1h and 200μs after start:

>>> start = datetime(2020,12,31,22,0,0,500)
>>> end = datetime(2020,12,31,23,0,0,700)
>>> delta = end - start
>>> delta.microseconds
RESULT: 200
EXPECTED: 3600000200

end is 1d and 1h after start:

>>> start = datetime(2020,12,30,22,0,0)
>>> end = datetime(2020,12,31,23,0,0)
>>> delta = end - start
>>> delta.seconds
RESULT: 3600
EXPECTED: 90000

Answer 5

Just thought it might be useful to mention formatting as well in regards to timedelta. strptime() parses a string representing a time according to a format.

from datetime import datetime

datetimeFormat = '%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S.%f'    
time1 = '2016/03/16 10:01:28.585'
time2 = '2016/03/16 09:56:28.067'  
time_dif = datetime.strptime(time1, datetimeFormat) - datetime.strptime(time2,datetimeFormat)
print(time_dif)

This will output: 0:05:00.518000

Answer 6

this is to find the difference between current time and 9.30 am

t=datetime.now()-datetime.now().replace(hour=9,minute=30)