Difference in months between two dates

Question

How to calculate the difference in months between two dates in C#?

Is there is equivalent of VB\'s DateDiff() method in C#. I need to find difference in

Answer 1

To get difference in months (both start and end inclusive), irrespective of dates:

DateTime start = new DateTime(2013, 1, 1);
DateTime end = new DateTime(2014, 2, 1);
var diffMonths = (end.Month + end.Year * 12) - (start.Month + start.Year * 12);

Answer 2

Here's a much more concise solution using VB.Net DateDiff for Year, Month, Day only. You can load the DateDiff library in C# as well.

date1 must be <= date2

VB.NET

Dim date1 = Now.AddDays(-2000)
Dim date2 = Now
Dim diffYears = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, date1, date2) - If(date1.DayOfYear > date2.DayOfYear, 1, 0)
Dim diffMonths = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, date1, date2) - diffYears * 12 - If(date1.Day > date2.Day, 1, 0)
Dim diffDays = If(date2.Day >= date1.Day, date2.Day - date1.Day, date2.Day + (Date.DaysInMonth(date1.Year, date1.Month) - date1.Day))

C#

DateTime date1 = Now.AddDays(-2000);
DateTime date2 = Now;
int diffYears = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, date1, date2) - date1.DayOfYear > date2.DayOfYear ? 1 : 0;
int diffMonths = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, date1, date2) - diffYears * 12 - date1.Day > date2.Day ? 1 : 0;
int diffDays = date2.Day >= date1.Day ? date2.Day - date1.Day : date2.Day + (System.DateTime.DaysInMonth(date1.Year, date1.Month) - date1.Day);

Answer 3

My understanding of the total months difference between 2 dates has an integral and a fractional part (the date matters).

The integral part is the full months difference.

The fractional part, for me, is the difference of the % of the day (to the full days of month) between the starting and ending months.

public static class DateTimeExtensions
{
    public static double TotalMonthsDifference(this DateTime from, DateTime to)
    {
        //Compute full months difference between dates
        var fullMonthsDiff = (to.Year - from.Year)*12 + to.Month - from.Month;

        //Compute difference between the % of day to full days of each month
        var fractionMonthsDiff = ((double)(to.Day-1) / (DateTime.DaysInMonth(to.Year, to.Month)-1)) -
            ((double)(from.Day-1)/ (DateTime.DaysInMonth(from.Year, from.Month)-1));

        return fullMonthsDiff + fractionMonthsDiff;
    }
}

With this extension, those are the results:

2/29/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 2/28/2001 => 12
2/28/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 2/28/2001 => 12.035714285714286
01/01/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 01/16/2000 => 0.5
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 01/01/2000 => -1.0
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 02/29/2000 => 1.0
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 02/28/2000 => 0.9642857142857143
01/31/2001 TotalMonthsDifference 02/28/2001 => 1.0

Answer 4

I just needed something simple to cater for e.g. employment dates where only the month/year is entered, so wanted distinct years and months worked in. This is what I use, here for usefullness only

public static YearsMonths YearMonthDiff(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate) {
    int monthDiff = ((endDate.Year * 12) + endDate.Month) - ((startDate.Year * 12) + startDate.Month) + 1;
    int years = (int)Math.Floor((decimal) (monthDiff / 12));
    int months = monthDiff % 12;
    return new YearsMonths {
        TotalMonths = monthDiff,
            Years = years,
            Months = months
    };
}

.NET Fiddle

Answer 5

There are not a lot of clear answers on this because you are always assuming things.

This solution calculates between two dates the months between assuming you want to save the day of month for comparison, (meaning that the day of the month is considered in the calculation)

Example, if you have a date of 30 Jan 2012, 29 Feb 2012 will not be a month but 01 March 2013 will.

It's been tested pretty thoroughly, probably will clean it up later as we use it, but here:

private static int TotalMonthDifference(DateTime dtThis, DateTime dtOther)
{
    int intReturn = 0;
    bool sameMonth = false;

    if (dtOther.Date < dtThis.Date) //used for an error catch in program, returns -1
        intReturn--;

    int dayOfMonth = dtThis.Day; //captures the month of day for when it adds a month and doesn't have that many days
    int daysinMonth = 0; //used to caputre how many days are in the month

    while (dtOther.Date > dtThis.Date) //while Other date is still under the other
    {
        dtThis = dtThis.AddMonths(1); //as we loop, we just keep adding a month for testing
        daysinMonth = DateTime.DaysInMonth(dtThis.Year, dtThis.Month); //grabs the days in the current tested month

        if (dtThis.Day != dayOfMonth) //Example 30 Jan 2013 will go to 28 Feb when a month is added, so when it goes to march it will be 28th and not 30th
        {
            if (daysinMonth < dayOfMonth) // uses day in month max if can't set back to day of month
                dtThis.AddDays(daysinMonth - dtThis.Day);
            else
                dtThis.AddDays(dayOfMonth - dtThis.Day);
        }
        if (((dtOther.Year == dtThis.Year) && (dtOther.Month == dtThis.Month))) //If the loop puts it in the same month and year
        {
            if (dtOther.Day >= dayOfMonth) //check to see if it is the same day or later to add one to month
                intReturn++;
            sameMonth = true; //sets this to cancel out of the normal counting of month
        }
        if ((!sameMonth)&&(dtOther.Date > dtThis.Date))//so as long as it didn't reach the same month (or if i started in the same month, one month ahead, add a month)
            intReturn++;
    }
    return intReturn; //return month
}

Answer 6

Expanded Kirks struct with ToString(format) and Duration(long ms)

 public struct DateTimeSpan
{
    private readonly int years;
    private readonly int months;
    private readonly int days;
    private readonly int hours;
    private readonly int minutes;
    private readonly int seconds;
    private readonly int milliseconds;

    public DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
    {
        this.years = years;
        this.months = months;
        this.days = days;
        this.hours = hours;
        this.minutes = minutes;
        this.seconds = seconds;
        this.milliseconds = milliseconds;
    }

    public int Years { get { return years; } }
    public int Months { get { return months; } }
    public int Days { get { return days; } }
    public int Hours { get { return hours; } }
    public int Minutes { get { return minutes; } }
    public int Seconds { get { return seconds; } }
    public int Milliseconds { get { return milliseconds; } }

    enum Phase { Years, Months, Days, Done }


    public string ToString(string format)
    {
        format = format.Replace("YYYY", Years.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("MM", Months.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("DD", Days.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("hh", Hours.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("mm", Minutes.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("ss", Seconds.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("ms", Milliseconds.ToString());
        return format;
    }


    public static DateTimeSpan Duration(long ms)
    {
        DateTime dt = new DateTime();
        return CompareDates(dt, dt.AddMilliseconds(ms));
    }


    public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
    {
        if (date2 < date1)
        {
            var sub = date1;
            date1 = date2;
            date2 = sub;
        }

        DateTime current = date1;
        int years = 0;
        int months = 0;
        int days = 0;

        Phase phase = Phase.Years;
        DateTimeSpan span = new DateTimeSpan();

        while (phase != Phase.Done)
        {
            switch (phase)
            {
                case Phase.Years:
                    if (current.AddYears(years + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Months;
                        current = current.AddYears(years);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        years++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Months:
                    if (current.AddMonths(months + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Days;
                        current = current.AddMonths(months);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        months++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Days:
                    if (current.AddDays(days + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        current = current.AddDays(days);
                        var timespan = date2 - current;
                        span = new DateTimeSpan(years, months, days, timespan.Hours, timespan.Minutes, timespan.Seconds, timespan.Milliseconds);
                        phase = Phase.Done;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        days++;
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

        return span;
    }
}