Reputation: 12842
Difference in months between two dates
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 months between two dates that are years apart. The documentation says that I can use TimeSpan like:
TimeSpan ts = date1 - date2;
but this gives me data in Days. I don't want to divide this number by 30 because not every month is 30 days and since the two operand values are quite apart from each other, I am afraid dividing by 30 might give me a wrong value.
Any suggestions?
Upvotes: 436
Views: 481578
Answers (30)
Reputation: 1013
Um, actually, the OP asked for something like VB's DateDiff(). It turns out that that function works very simply for months:
((LastDate.Year - FirstDate.Year) * 12) + LastDate.Month - FirstDate.Month
seems to emulate it perfectly.
(Unless I be mistaken. I'll welcome anyone pointing out a mistake.)
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 823
Someone must have done it))
The extension method returns the number of full months between the given dates. No matter in what order the dates are received, a natural number will always be returned.No approximate calculations as in the "correct" answer.
/// <summary>
/// Returns the difference between dates in months.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="current">First considered date.</param>
/// <param name="another">Second considered date.</param>
/// <returns>The number of full months between the given dates.</returns>
public static int DifferenceInMonths(this DateTime current, DateTime another)
{
DateTime previous, next;
if (current > another)
{
previous = another;
next = current;
}
else
{
previous = current;
next = another;
}
return
(next.Year - previous.Year) * 12 // multiply the difference in years by 12 months
+ next.Month - previous.Month // add difference in months
+ (previous.Day <= next.Day ? 0 : -1); // if the day of the next date has not reached the day of the previous one, then the last month has not yet ended
}
But if you still want to get the fractional parts of the months, you just need to add one more term to the return:
+ (next.Day - previous.Day) / DateTime.DaysInMonth(previous.Year, previous.Month)
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 21
I was working on a project that only dealt in years and months.
/// <summary>
/// Get the total months between two date. This will count whole months and not care about the day.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="firstDate">First date.</param>
/// <param name="lastDate">Last date.</param>
/// <returns>Number of month apart.</returns>
private static int GetTotalMonths(DateOnly firstDate, DateOnly lastDate)
{
int yearsApart = lastDate.Year - firstDate.Year;
int monthsApart = lastDate.Month - firstDate.Month;
return (yearsApart * 12) + monthsApart;
}
private static int GetTotalMonths(DateTime firstDate, DateTime lastDate)
{
return GetTotalMonths(DateOnly.FromDateTime(firstDate), DateOnly.FromDateTime(lastDate));
}
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 81
one line solution
For first, check if both dates are in the current year, if not get months of whole years and then add months from the start and end year.
DateTime dateFrom = new DateTime(2019, 2, 1);
DateTime dateTo = new DateTime(2021, 5, 25);
With the first month
var monthCount = dateFrom.Year != dateTo.Year ? ((dateTo.Year - dateFrom.Year - 1) * 12) + (13 - dateFrom.Month + dateTo.Month) : dateTo.Month - dateFrom.Month + 1;
result = 28
Without first month
monthCount = dateFrom.Year != dateTo.Year ? ((dateTo.Year - dateFrom.Year - 1) * 12) + (12 - dateFrom.Month + dateTo.Month) : dateTo.Month - dateFrom.Month;
result = 27
Upvotes: 3
Reputation: 222
In case you just care about the month and year and want to touch both dates (for example you want to go thru JAN/2021 to AGO/2022) you can use this:
int numberOfMonths= (Year2 > Year1 ? ( Year2 - Year1 - 1) * 12 + (12 - Month1) + Month2 + 1 : Month2 - Month1 + 1);
Example:
Year1/Month1: 2021/10
Year2/Month2: 2022/08
numberOfMonths = 11;
Or same year:
Year1/Month1: 2021/10
Year2/Month2: 2021/12
numberOfMonths = 3;
If you just want to touch one of them remove both + 1.
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 1638
Insane method that counts all days, so super precise
helper class :
public class DaysInMonth
{
public int Days { get; set; }
public int Month { get; set; }
public int Year { get; set; }
public bool Full { get; set; }
}
function:
public static List<DaysInMonth> MonthsDelta(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
var dates = Enumerable.Range(0, 1 + end.Subtract(start).Days)
.Select(offset => start.AddDays(offset))
.ToArray();
DateTime? prev = null;
int days = 0;
List < DaysInMonth > list = new List<DaysInMonth>();
foreach (DateTime date in dates)
{
if (prev != null)
{
if(date.Month!=prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month)
{
DaysInMonth daysInMonth = new DaysInMonth();
daysInMonth.Days = days;
daysInMonth.Month = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month;
daysInMonth.Year = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Year;
daysInMonth.Full = DateTime.DaysInMonth(daysInMonth.Year, daysInMonth.Month) == daysInMonth.Days;
list.Add(daysInMonth);
days = 0;
}
}
days++;
prev = date;
}
//------------------ add last
if (days > 0)
{
DaysInMonth daysInMonth = new DaysInMonth();
daysInMonth.Days = days;
daysInMonth.Month = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month;
daysInMonth.Year = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Year;
daysInMonth.Full = DateTime.DaysInMonth(daysInMonth.Year, daysInMonth.Month) == daysInMonth.Days;
list.Add(daysInMonth);
}
return list;
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 590
Apart from all given answers I find this piece of code very straightforward. AS DateTime.MinValue is 1/1/1, we have to subtract 1 from month, years and days.
var timespan = endDate.Subtract(startDate);
var tempdate = DateTime.MinValue + timespan;
var totalMonths = (tempdate.Year - 1) * 12 + tempdate.Month - 1;
var totalDays = tempdate.Day - 1;
if (totalDays > 0)
{
totalMonths = totalMonths + 1;
}
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 404
You can use Noda Time https://nodatime.org/
LocalDate start = new LocalDate(2010, 1, 5);
LocalDate end = new LocalDate(2012, 6, 1);
Period period = Period.Between(start, end, PeriodUnits.Months);
Console.WriteLine(period.Months);
Upvotes: 4
Reputation: 21
This simple static function calculates the fraction of months between two Datetimes, e.g.
- 1.1. to 31.1. = 1.0
- 1.4. to 15.4. = 0.5
- 16.4. to 30.4. = 0.5
- 1.3. to 1.4. = 1 + 1/30
The function assumes that the first date is smaller than the second date. To deal with negative time intervals one can modify the function easily by introducing a sign and a variable swap at the beginning.
public static double GetDeltaMonths(DateTime t0, DateTime t1)
{
DateTime t = t0;
double months = 0;
while(t<=t1)
{
int daysInMonth = DateTime.DaysInMonth(t.Year, t.Month);
DateTime endOfMonth = new DateTime(t.Year, t.Month, daysInMonth);
int cutDay = endOfMonth <= t1 ? daysInMonth : t1.Day;
months += (cutDay - t.Day + 1) / (double) daysInMonth;
t = new DateTime(t.Year, t.Month, 1).AddMonths(1);
}
return Math.Round(months,2);
}
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 698
It seems that the DateTimeSpan solution pleases a lot of people. I don't know. Let's consider the:
BeginDate = 1972/2/29 EndDate = 1972/4/28.
The DateTimeSpan based answer is:
1 year(s), 2 month(s) and 0 day(s)
I implemented a method and based on that the answer is:
1 year(s), 1 month(s) and 28 day(s)
Clearly there are not 2 full months there. I would say that because we are at the end of the month of the begin date what's left is actually the full month of March plus the number of days passed in the month of the end date (April), so 1 month and 28 days.
If you read so far and you are intrigued I posted the method below. I am explaining in the comments the assumptions I make because how many months, the concept of months is such a moving target. Test it many times and see if the answers make sense. I usually choose test dates in adjacent years and once I verify an answer I move a day or two back and forth. So far it looks good, I'm sure you'll find some bugs :D. The code might look a bit rough but I hope it is clear enough:
static void Main(string[] args) {
DateTime EndDate = new DateTime(1973, 4, 28);
DateTime BeginDate = new DateTime(1972, 2, 29);
int years, months, days;
GetYearsMonthsDays(EndDate, BeginDate, out years, out months, out days);
Console.WriteLine($"{years} year(s), {months} month(s) and {days} day(s)");
}
/// <summary>
/// Calculates how many years, months and days are between two dates.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// The fundamental idea here is that most of the time all of us agree
/// that a month has passed today since the same day of the previous month.
/// A particular case is when both days are the last days of their respective months
/// when again we can say one month has passed.
/// In the following cases the idea of a month is a moving target.
/// - When only the beginning date is the last day of the month then we're left just with
/// a number of days from the next month equal to the day of the month that end date represent
/// - When only the end date is the last day of its respective month we clearly have a
/// whole month plus a few days after the the day of the beginning date until the end of its
/// respective months
/// In all the other cases we'll check
/// - beginingDay > endDay -> less then a month just daysToEndofBeginingMonth + dayofTheEndMonth
/// - beginingDay < endDay -> full month + (endDay - beginingDay)
/// - beginingDay == endDay -> one full month 0 days
///
/// </remarks>
///
private static void GetYearsMonthsDays(DateTime EndDate, DateTime BeginDate, out int years, out int months, out int days ) {
var beginMonthDays = DateTime.DaysInMonth(BeginDate.Year, BeginDate.Month);
var endMonthDays = DateTime.DaysInMonth(EndDate.Year, EndDate.Month);
// get the full years
years = EndDate.Year - BeginDate.Year - 1;
// how many full months in the first year
var firstYearMonths = 12 - BeginDate.Month;
// how many full months in the last year
var endYearMonths = EndDate.Month - 1;
// full months
months = firstYearMonths + endYearMonths;
days = 0;
// Particular end of month cases
if(beginMonthDays == BeginDate.Day && endMonthDays == EndDate.Day) {
months++;
}
else if(beginMonthDays == BeginDate.Day) {
days += EndDate.Day;
}
else if(endMonthDays == EndDate.Day) {
days += beginMonthDays - BeginDate.Day;
}
// For all the other cases
else if(EndDate.Day > BeginDate.Day) {
months++;
days += EndDate.Day - BeginDate.Day;
}
else if(EndDate.Day < BeginDate.Day) {
days += beginMonthDays - BeginDate.Day;
days += EndDate.Day;
}
else {
months++;
}
if(months >= 12) {
years++;
months = months - 12;
}
}
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 1737
My problem was solved with this solution:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var date1 = new DateTime(2018, 12, 05);
var date2 = new DateTime(2019, 03, 01);
int CountNumberOfMonths() => (date2.Month - date1.Month) + 12 * (date2.Year - date1.Year);
var numberOfMonths = CountNumberOfMonths();
Console.WriteLine("Number of months between {0} and {1}: {2} months.", date1.ToString(), date2.ToString(), numberOfMonths.ToString());
Console.ReadKey();
//
// *** Console Output:
// Number of months between 05/12/2018 00:00:00 and 01/03/2019 00:00:00: 3 months.
//
}
Upvotes: -1
Reputation: 512
Simple and fast solution to count total months between 2 dates. If you want to get only different months, not counting the one that is in From date - just remove +1 from code.
public static int GetTotalMonths(DateTime From, DateTime Till)
{
int MonthDiff = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
{
if (From.AddMonths(i).Month == Till.Month)
{
MonthDiff = i + 1;
break;
}
}
return MonthDiff;
}
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 21
Based on the excellent DateTimeSpan work done above, I've normalized the code a bit; this seems to work pretty well:
public class DateTimeSpan
{
private DateTimeSpan() { }
private DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
{
Years = years;
Months = months;
Days = days;
Hours = hours;
Minutes = minutes;
Seconds = seconds;
Milliseconds = milliseconds;
}
public int Years { get; private set; } = 0;
public int Months { get; private set; } = 0;
public int Days { get; private set; } = 0;
public int Hours { get; private set; } = 0;
public int Minutes { get; private set; } = 0;
public int Seconds { get; private set; } = 0;
public int Milliseconds { get; private set; } = 0;
public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
if (StartDate.Equals(EndDate)) return new DateTimeSpan();
DateTimeSpan R = new DateTimeSpan();
bool Later;
if (Later = StartDate > EndDate)
{
DateTime D = StartDate;
StartDate = EndDate;
EndDate = D;
}
// Calculate Date Stuff
for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddYears(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddYears(1), R.Years++) ;
if (R.Years > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddYears(R.Years);
for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddMonths(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddMonths(1), R.Months++) ;
if (R.Months > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddMonths(R.Months);
for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddDays(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddDays(1), R.Days++) ;
if (R.Days > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddDays(R.Days);
// Calculate Time Stuff
TimeSpan T1 = EndDate - StartDate;
R.Hours = T1.Hours;
R.Minutes = T1.Minutes;
R.Seconds = T1.Seconds;
R.Milliseconds = T1.Milliseconds;
// Return answer. Negate values if the Start Date was later than the End Date
if (Later)
return new DateTimeSpan(-R.Years, -R.Months, -R.Days, -R.Hours, -R.Minutes, -R.Seconds, -R.Milliseconds);
return R;
}
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 77536
Here is a comprehensive solution to return a DateTimeSpan, similar to a TimeSpan, except that it includes all the date components in addition to the time components.
Usage:
void Main()
{
DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
var dateSpan = DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now);
Console.WriteLine("Years: " + dateSpan.Years);
Console.WriteLine("Months: " + dateSpan.Months);
Console.WriteLine("Days: " + dateSpan.Days);
Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + dateSpan.Hours);
Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + dateSpan.Minutes);
Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + dateSpan.Seconds);
Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + dateSpan.Milliseconds);
}
Outputs:
Years: 1
Months: 5
Days: 27
Hours: 1
Minutes: 36
Seconds: 50
Milliseconds: 0
For convenience, I've lumped the logic into the DateTimeSpan struct, but you may move the method CompareDates wherever you see fit. Also note, it doesn't matter which date comes before the other.
public struct DateTimeSpan
{
public int Years { get; }
public int Months { get; }
public int Days { get; }
public int Hours { get; }
public int Minutes { get; }
public int Seconds { get; }
public int Milliseconds { get; }
public DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
{
Years = years;
Months = months;
Days = days;
Hours = hours;
Minutes = minutes;
Seconds = seconds;
Milliseconds = milliseconds;
}
enum Phase { Years, Months, Days, Done }
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();
int officialDay = current.Day;
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);
if (current.Day < officialDay && officialDay <= DateTime.DaysInMonth(current.Year, current.Month))
current = current.AddDays(officialDay - current.Day);
}
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;
}
}
Upvotes: 237
Reputation: 1
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
label3.Text = new DateDifference(Convert.ToDateTime("2018-09-13"), Convert.ToDateTime("2018-11-15")).ToString();
label2.Text = new DateDifference(Convert.ToDateTime("2018-10-12"), Convert.ToDateTime("2018-11-15")).ToString();
DateDifference oDateDifference = new DateDifference(Convert.ToDateTime("2018-11-12"));
label1.Text = oDateDifference.ToString();
}
}
public class DateDifference
{
public DateTime start { get; set; }
public DateTime currentDAte { get; set; }
public DateTime origstart { get; set; }
public DateTime origCurrentDAte { get; set; }
int days { get; set; }
int months { get; set; }
int years { get; set; }
public DateDifference(DateTime postedDate, DateTime currentDAte)
{
this.start = this.removeTime(postedDate);
this.currentDAte = this.removeTime(currentDAte);
this.origstart = postedDate;
this.origCurrentDAte = currentDAte;
}
public DateDifference(DateTime postedDate)
{
DateTime currentDate_ = DateTime.Now;
this.start = this.removeTime(postedDate);
this.currentDAte = this.removeTime(currentDate_);
this.origstart = postedDate;
this.origCurrentDAte = currentDate_;
if (start > this.currentDAte)
{
throw new Exception("Current date is greater than date posted");
}
this.compute();
}
void compute()
{
while (this.start.Year <= this.currentDAte.Year)
{
if (this.start.Year <= this.currentDAte.Year && (this.start.AddMonths(1) <= this.currentDAte))
{
++this.months;
this.start = this.start.AddMonths(1);
}
if ((this.start.Year == this.currentDAte.Year) && (this.start >= this.currentDAte.AddMonths(-1) && this.start <= this.currentDAte))
{
break;
}
}
while (this.start.DayOfYear < this.currentDAte.DayOfYear)
{
++this.days;
this.start = start.AddDays(1);
}
if (this.months > 11)
{
while (this.months > 11)
{
++this.years;
this.months = months - 12;
}
}
}
public override string ToString()
{
if (this.start > this.currentDAte)
{
throw new Exception("Current date is greater than date posted");
}
String ret = this.ComposeTostring();
this.reset();
return ret;
}
private String ComposeTostring()
{
this.compute();
if (this.years > 0)
{
if (this.months > 0)
{
if (this.days > 0)
{
return String.Format("{0} year{1}, {2} month{3} && {4} Day{5} ago", this.years, plural(this.years), this.months, plural(this.months), this.days, plural(this.days));
}
return String.Format("{0} year{1}, {2} month{3} ago", this.years, plural(this.years), this.months, plural(this.months));
}
else
{
if (this.days > 0)
{
return String.Format("{0} year{1},{2} day{3} ago", this.years, plural(this.years), this.days, plural(this.days));
}
return String.Format("{0} year{1} ago", this.years, plural(this.years));
}
}
if (this.months > 0)
{
if (this.days > 0)
{
return String.Format("{0} month{1}, {2} day{3} ago", this.months, plural(this.months), this.days, plural(this.days));
}
else
{
return String.Format("{0} month{1} ago", this.months, plural(this.months));
}
}
if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Days > 0)
{
int daysDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Days;
this.origstart = this.origstart.AddDays(daysDiff);
int HoursDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Hours;
return String.Format("{0} day{1}, {2} hour{3} ago", daysDiff, plural(daysDiff), HoursDiff, plural(HoursDiff));
}
else if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Hours > 0)
{
int HoursDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Hours;
this.origstart = this.origstart.AddHours(HoursDiff);
int MinDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Minutes;
return String.Format("{0} hour{1}, {2} minute{3} ago", HoursDiff, plural(HoursDiff), MinDiff, plural(MinDiff));
}
else if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Minutes > 0)
{
int MinDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Minutes;
this.origstart = this.origstart.AddMinutes(MinDiff);
int SecDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Seconds;
return String.Format("{0} minute{1}, {2} second{3} ago", MinDiff, plural(MinDiff), SecDiff, plural(SecDiff));
}
else if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Seconds > 0)
{
int sec = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Seconds;
return String.Format("{0} second{1}", sec, plural(sec));
}
return "";
}
String plural(int val)
{
return (val > 1 ? "s" : String.Empty);
}
DateTime removeTime(DateTime dtime)
{
dtime = dtime.AddHours(-dtime.Hour);
dtime = dtime.AddMinutes(-dtime.Minute);
dtime = dtime.AddSeconds(-dtime.Second);
return dtime;
}
public void reset()
{
this.days = 0;
this.months = 0;
this.years = 0;
this.start = DateTime.MinValue;
this.currentDAte = DateTime.MinValue;
this.origstart = DateTime.MinValue;
this.origCurrentDAte = DateTime.MinValue;
}
}
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 128
Simple fix. Works 100%
var exactmonth = (date1.Year - date2.Year) * 12 + date1.Month -
date2.Month + (date1.Day >= date2.Day ? 0 : -1);
Console.WriteLine(exactmonth);
Upvotes: -1
Reputation: 138776
Here is a simple solution that works at least for me. It's probably not the fastest though because it uses the cool DateTime's AddMonth feature in a loop:
public static int GetMonthsDiff(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
if (start > end)
return GetMonthsDiff(end, start);
int months = 0;
do
{
start = start.AddMonths(1);
if (start > end)
return months;
months++;
}
while (true);
}
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 191
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
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 7083
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
Upvotes: 3
Reputation: 18941
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
};
}
Upvotes: 8
Reputation: 21
The most precise way is this that return difference in months by fraction :
private double ReturnDiffereceBetweenTwoDatesInMonths(DateTime startDateTime, DateTime endDateTime)
{
double result = 0;
double days = 0;
DateTime currentDateTime = startDateTime;
while (endDateTime > currentDateTime.AddMonths(1))
{
result ++;
currentDateTime = currentDateTime.AddMonths(1);
}
if (endDateTime > currentDateTime)
{
days = endDateTime.Subtract(currentDateTime).TotalDays;
}
return result + days/endDateTime.GetMonthDays;
}
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 760
I wrote a function to accomplish this, because the others ways weren't working for me.
public string getEndDate (DateTime startDate,decimal monthCount)
{
int y = startDate.Year;
int m = startDate.Month;
for (decimal i = monthCount; i > 1; i--)
{
m++;
if (m == 12)
{ y++;
m = 1;
}
}
return string.Format("{0}-{1}-{2}", y.ToString(), m.ToString(), startDate.Day.ToString());
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 14400
If you want the exact number of full months, always positive (2000-01-15, 2000-02-14 returns 0), considering a full month is when you reach the same day the next month (something like the age calculation)
public static int GetMonthsBetween(DateTime from, DateTime to)
{
if (from > to) return GetMonthsBetween(to, from);
var monthDiff = Math.Abs((to.Year * 12 + (to.Month - 1)) - (from.Year * 12 + (from.Month - 1)));
if (from.AddMonths(monthDiff) > to || to.Day < from.Day)
{
return monthDiff - 1;
}
else
{
return monthDiff;
}
}
Edit reason: the old code was not correct in some cases like :
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1901, 8, 30), Result = 11 },
Test cases I used to test the function:
var tests = new[]
{
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 0 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 2), Result = 0 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 2), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 0 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), Result = 1 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 1 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), Result = 0 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 9, 30), Result = 0 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 10, 1), Result = 1 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1901, 1, 1), Result = 12 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1911, 1, 1), Result = 132 },
new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1901, 8, 30), Result = 11 },
};
Upvotes: 37
Reputation: 684
There's 3 cases: same year, previous year and other years.
If the day of the month does not matter...
public int GetTotalNumberOfMonths(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
// work with dates in the right order
if (start > end)
{
var swapper = start;
start = end;
end = swapper;
}
switch (end.Year - start.Year)
{
case 0: // Same year
return end.Month - start.Month;
case 1: // last year
return (12 - start.Month) + end.Month;
default:
return 12 * (3 - (end.Year - start.Year)) + (12 - start.Month) + end.Month;
}
}
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 137
This worked for what I needed it for. The day of month didn't matter in my case because it always happens to be the last day of the month.
public static int MonthDiff(DateTime d1, DateTime d2){
int retVal = 0;
if (d1.Month<d2.Month)
{
retVal = (d1.Month + 12) - d2.Month;
retVal += ((d1.Year - 1) - d2.Year)*12;
}
else
{
retVal = d1.Month - d2.Month;
retVal += (d1.Year - d2.Year)*12;
}
//// Calculate the number of years represented and multiply by 12
//// Substract the month number from the total
//// Substract the difference of the second month and 12 from the total
//retVal = (d1.Year - d2.Year) * 12;
//retVal = retVal - d1.Month;
//retVal = retVal - (12 - d2.Month);
return retVal;
}
Upvotes: 2
Reputation: 123
public static int PayableMonthsInDuration(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
int sy = StartDate.Year; int sm = StartDate.Month; int count = 0;
do
{
count++;if ((sy == EndDate.Year) && (sm >= EndDate.Month)) { break; }
sm++;if (sm == 13) { sm = 1; sy++; }
} while ((EndDate.Year >= sy) || (EndDate.Month >= sm));
return (count);
}
This solution is for Rental/subscription calculation, where difference doesn't means to be subtraction, it's meant to be the span in within those two dates.
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 569
In my case it is required to calculate the complete month from the start date to the day prior to this day in the next month or from start to end of month.
Ex: from 1/1/2018 to 31/1/2018 is a complete month
Ex2: from 5/1/2018 to 4/2/2018 is a complete month
so based on this here is my solution:
public static DateTime GetMonthEnd(DateTime StartDate, int MonthsCount = 1)
{
return StartDate.AddMonths(MonthsCount).AddDays(-1);
}
public static Tuple<int, int> CalcPeriod(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
int MonthsCount = 0;
Tuple<int, int> Period;
while (true)
{
if (GetMonthEnd(StartDate) > EndDate)
break;
else
{
MonthsCount += 1;
StartDate = StartDate.AddMonths(1);
}
}
int RemainingDays = (EndDate - StartDate).Days + 1;
Period = new Tuple<int, int>(MonthsCount, RemainingDays);
return Period;
}
Usage:
Tuple<int, int> Period = CalcPeriod(FromDate, ToDate);
Note: in my case it was required to calculate the remaining days after the complete months so if it's not your case you could ignore the days result or even you could change the method return from tuple to integer.
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 29956
Assuming the day of the month is irrelevant (i.e. the diff between 2011.1.1 and 2010.12.31 is 1), with date1 > date2 giving a positive value and date2 > date1 a negative value
((date1.Year - date2.Year) * 12) + date1.Month - date2.Month
Or, assuming you want an approximate number of 'average months' between the two dates, the following should work for all but very huge date differences.
date1.Subtract(date2).Days / (365.25 / 12)
Note, if you were to use the latter solution then your unit tests should state the widest date range which your application is designed to work with and validate the results of the calculation accordingly.
Update (with thanks to Gary)
If using the 'average months' method, a slightly more accurate number to use for the 'average number of days per year' is 365.2425.
Upvotes: 589
Reputation: 75
This is in response to Kirk Woll's answer. I don't have enough reputation points to reply to a comment yet...
I liked Kirk's solution and was going to shamelessly rip it off and use it in my code, but when I looked through it I realized it's way too complicated. Unnecessary switching and looping, and a public constructor that is pointless to use.
Here's my rewrite:
public class DateTimeSpan {
private DateTime _date1;
private DateTime _date2;
private int _years;
private int _months;
private int _days;
private int _hours;
private int _minutes;
private int _seconds;
private int _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; } }
public DateTimeSpan(DateTime date1, DateTime date2) {
_date1 = (date1 > date2) ? date1 : date2;
_date2 = (date2 < date1) ? date2 : date1;
_years = _date1.Year - _date2.Year;
_months = (_years * 12) + _date1.Month - _date2.Month;
TimeSpan t = (_date2 - _date1);
_days = t.Days;
_hours = t.Hours;
_minutes = t.Minutes;
_seconds = t.Seconds;
_milliseconds = t.Milliseconds;
}
public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2) {
return new DateTimeSpan(date1, date2);
}
}
Usage1, pretty much the same:
void Main()
{
DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
var dateSpan = new DateTimeSpan(compareTo, now);
Console.WriteLine("Years: " + dateSpan.Years);
Console.WriteLine("Months: " + dateSpan.Months);
Console.WriteLine("Days: " + dateSpan.Days);
Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + dateSpan.Hours);
Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + dateSpan.Minutes);
Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + dateSpan.Seconds);
Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + dateSpan.Milliseconds);
}
Usage2, similar:
void Main()
{
DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
Console.WriteLine("Years: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Years);
Console.WriteLine("Months: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Months);
Console.WriteLine("Days: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Days);
Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Hours);
Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Minutes);
Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Seconds);
Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Milliseconds);
}
Upvotes: 1
Reputation: 1746
Here is my contribution to get difference in Months that I've found to be accurate:
namespace System
{
public static class DateTimeExtensions
{
public static Int32 DiffMonths( this DateTime start, DateTime end )
{
Int32 months = 0;
DateTime tmp = start;
while ( tmp < end )
{
months++;
tmp = tmp.AddMonths( 1 );
}
return months;
}
}
}
Usage:
Int32 months = DateTime.Now.DiffMonths( DateTime.Now.AddYears( 5 ) );
You can create another method called DiffYears and apply exactly the same logic as above and AddYears instead of AddMonths in the while loop.
Upvotes: 6
Related Questions
- calculating the difference in months between two dates
- What is the easiest way to get the difference in months between two dates in C#?
- Calculate difference in month and years between two date in vb.net
- Month difference between 2 dates
- Get the number of months between two DateTimes
- How to calculate actual months difference (calendar year not approximation) between two given dates in C#?
- Add months difference to new date
- Difference in weeks/months between two dates
- How to calculate the number of months between two dates in C#
- Calculating Number of Months between 2 dates