PostgreSQL: days/months/years between two dates

Question

I am looking for a way to implement the SQLServer-function datediff in PostgreSQL. That is,

This function returns the count (as a signed integer valu

Answer 1

I would like to expand on Riki_tiki_tavi's answer and get the data out there. I have created a datediff function that does almost everything sql server does. So that way we can take into account any unit.

create function datediff(units character varying, start_t timestamp without time zone, end_t timestamp without time zone) returns integer
language plpgsql
 as
 $$
DECLARE
 diff_interval INTERVAL; 
 diff INT = 0;
 years_diff INT = 0;
BEGIN
 IF units IN ('yy', 'yyyy', 'year', 'mm', 'm', 'month') THEN
   years_diff = DATE_PART('year', end_t) - DATE_PART('year', start_t);

   IF units IN ('yy', 'yyyy', 'year') THEN
     -- SQL Server does not count full years passed (only difference between year parts)
     RETURN years_diff;
   ELSE
     -- If end month is less than start month it will subtracted
     RETURN years_diff * 12 + (DATE_PART('month', end_t) - DATE_PART('month', start_t)); 
   END IF;
 END IF;

 -- Minus operator returns interval 'DDD days HH:MI:SS'  
 diff_interval = end_t - start_t;

 diff = diff + DATE_PART('day', diff_interval);

 IF units IN ('wk', 'ww', 'week') THEN
   diff = diff/7;
   RETURN diff;
 END IF;

 IF units IN ('dd', 'd', 'day') THEN
   RETURN diff;
 END IF;

 diff = diff * 24 + DATE_PART('hour', diff_interval); 

 IF units IN ('hh', 'hour') THEN
    RETURN diff;
 END IF;

 diff = diff * 60 + DATE_PART('minute', diff_interval);

 IF units IN ('mi', 'n', 'minute') THEN
    RETURN diff;
 END IF;

 diff = diff * 60 + DATE_PART('second', diff_interval);

 RETURN diff;
END;
$$;