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c#.netdatetimetimespan
Colonel Panic
Colonel Panic

Reputation: 137544

Multiply TimeSpan in .NET

How do I multiply a TimeSpan object in C#? Assuming the variable duration is a TimeSpan, I would like, for example

duration*5

But that gives me an error "operator * cannot be applied to types TimeSpan and int". Here's my current workaround

duration+duration+duration+duration+duration

But this doesn't extend to non-integer multiples, eg. duration * 3.5

Upvotes: 100

Views: 32769

Answers (8)

deczaloth
deczaloth

Reputation: 7455

Multiply is now available for TimeSpan!!!

But only for .NET Core, .NET Standard and .NET 5+.

Since .NET Core 2.0 (or .NET Standard 2.1) you can successfully run the following code:

Console.WriteLine(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(45) * 3);
// Prints:
// 00:02:15

Limitations

Nevertheless, it is important to note (as described in the docu) that this only applies for .NET Core 2.0+, .NET Standard 2.1+, and of course .NET 5+.

The code above will fail even in the latest .NET Framework version: 4.8 (which is actually the last version of .NET Framework!).

If you try the code above in a Console application, for example, running .NET Core 1.1 or lower, or .NET Framework 4.8 or lower you will be thrown the following exception:

Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder.RuntimeBinderException: 'Operator '*' cannot be applied to operands of type 'System.TimeSpan' and 'int''

Why not in .NET Framework?

In order to try to understand why some features will be added to .Net Core but not to .NET Framework, it is enlightening to see what Immo says:

.NET Core is the open source, cross-platform, and fast-moving version of .NET. Because of its side-by-side nature it can take changes that we can’t risk applying back to .NET Framework. This means that .NET Core will get new APIs and language features over time that .NET Framework cannot. At Build we showed a demo how the file APIs are faster on .NET Core. If we put those same changes into .NET Framework we could break existing applications, and we don’t want to do that.

Upvotes: 13

antmeehan
antmeehan

Reputation: 933

TimeSpan.Multiply has arrived in .NET Core, and looks like it will arrive in .NET Standard 2.1:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.timespan.op_multiply?view=netstandard-2.1

   var result = 3.0 * TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3);

Upvotes: 15

Stephen Hewlett
Stephen Hewlett

Reputation: 2445

For those wishing to copy and paste:

namespace Utility
{
    public static class TimeSpanExtension
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Multiplies a timespan by an integer value
        /// </summary>
        public static TimeSpan Multiply(this TimeSpan multiplicand, int multiplier)
        {
            return TimeSpan.FromTicks(multiplicand.Ticks * multiplier);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Multiplies a timespan by a double value
        /// </summary>
        public static TimeSpan Multiply(this TimeSpan multiplicand, double multiplier)
        {
            return TimeSpan.FromTicks((long)(multiplicand.Ticks * multiplier));
        }
    }
}

Example Usage:

using Utility;

private static void Example()
{
    TimeSpan t = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30).Multiply(5);
}

t will end up as 150 seconds.

Upvotes: 51

Marcin
Marcin

Reputation: 3262

The problem here is that you want to multiply timespan. The simplest workaround is to use ticks. eg.

 var ticks = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1).Ticks;
 var newTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromTicks(ticks*5);

Upvotes: 2

Kendall Frey
Kendall Frey

Reputation: 44316

You can use the internal data of TimeSpan, namely ticks.

TimeSpan day = TimeSpan.FromDays(1);
TimeSpan week = TimeSpan.FromTicks(day.Ticks * 7);

Upvotes: 6

Justin Pihony
Justin Pihony

Reputation: 67065

From this article

TimeSpan duration = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1);
duration = TimeSpan.FromTicks(duration.Ticks * 12);
Console.WriteLine(duration);

Upvotes: 114

Kent Boogaart
Kent Boogaart

Reputation: 178630

The TimeSpan structure does not provide an overload for the * operator, so you have to do this yourself:

var result = TimeSpan.FromTicks(duration.Ticks * 5);

Upvotes: 13

PedroC88
PedroC88

Reputation: 3829

You need to specify which member it is you want to multiply by 5 -> TimeSpan.TotalMinutes * 5

Upvotes: 1

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