CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cdatetime
Sidd
Sidd

Reputation: 111

Datetime comparison in C

I want to compare datetime in C. I googled but I didn't get any proper solution. I am having datetime in string format i.e date1 = "2014-02-13 12:22:21" and date2 = "2014-02-10 12:22:21". Now, I want comparison b/w date1 and date2. Please suggest me proper solution.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 300

Answers (2)

bobah
bobah

Reputation: 18864

If you don't run this on the critical path, Then just use strncmp(). Else, if speed is important, parse it with strptime()+mktime() into UTC uint64_t microseconds/milliseconds since epoch and compare those. I would also make sure timezones are taken into account consistently across the code base.

To clarify the point raised in the comment - whether to prefer string comparison to timestamp comparison (paying parsing overhead) is solely determined by the usage pattern and can be benchmarked in a simple synthetic test.

Upvotes: 0

dan04
dan04

Reputation: 91207

Just use strcmp. It works because with this particular date/time format, the lexicographical order is the same as the chronological order.

Upvotes: 4

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