How can I calculate the difference between two dates?

Question

How can I calculate the days between 1 Jan 2010 and (for example) 3 Feb 2010?

Answer 1

NSDate *date1 = [NSDate dateWithString:@"2010-01-01 00:00:00 +0000"];
NSDate *date2 = [NSDate dateWithString:@"2010-02-03 00:00:00 +0000"];

NSTimeInterval secondsBetween = [date2 timeIntervalSinceDate:date1];

int numberOfDays = secondsBetween / 86400;

NSLog(@"There are %d days in between the two dates.", numberOfDays);

EDIT:

Remember, NSDate objects represent exact moments of time, they do not have any associated time-zone information. When you convert a string to a date using e.g. an NSDateFormatter, the NSDateFormatter converts the time from the configured timezone. Therefore, the number of seconds between two NSDate objects will always be time-zone-agnostic.

Furthermore, this documentation specifies that Cocoa's implementation of time does not account for leap seconds, so if you require such accuracy, you will need to roll your own implementation.

Answer 2

You may want to use something like this:

NSDateComponents *components;
NSInteger days;

components = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] components: NSDayCalendarUnit 
        fromDate: startDate toDate: endDate options: 0];
days = [components day];

I believe this method accounts for situations such as dates that span a change in daylight savings.

Answer 3

Swift 4
Try this and see (date range with String):

// Start & End date string
let startingAt = "01/01/2018"
let endingAt = "08/03/2018"

// Sample date formatter
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy"

// start and end date object from string dates
var startDate = dateFormatter.date(from: startingAt) ?? Date()
let endDate = dateFormatter.date(from: endingAt) ?? Date()


// Actual operational logic
var dateRange: [String] = []
while startDate <= endDate {
    let stringDate = dateFormatter.string(from: startDate)
    startDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: 1, to: startDate) ?? Date()
    dateRange.append(stringDate)
}

print("Resulting Array - \(dateRange)")

Swift 3

var date1 = Date(string: "2010-01-01 00:00:00 +0000")
var date2 = Date(string: "2010-02-03 00:00:00 +0000")
var secondsBetween: TimeInterval = date2.timeIntervalSince(date1)
var numberOfDays: Int = secondsBetween / 86400
print(numberOfDays)

Answer 4

If you want all the units, not just the biggest one, use one of these 2 methods (based on @Ankish's answer):

Example output: 28 D | 23 H | 59 M | 59 S

+ (NSString *) remaningTime:(NSDate *)startDate endDate:(NSDate *)endDate
{
    NSCalendarUnit units = NSCalendarUnitDay | NSCalendarUnitHour | NSCalendarUnitMinute | NSCalendarUnitSecond;
    NSDateComponents *components = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] components:units fromDate: startDate toDate: endDate options: 0];
    return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ti D | %ti H | %ti M | %ti S", [components day], [components hour], [components minute], [components second]];
}

+ (NSString *) timeFromNowUntil:(NSDate *)endDate
{
    return [self remaningTime:[NSDate date] endDate:endDate];
}

Answer 5

NSTimeInterval diff = [date2 timeIntervalSinceDate:date1]; // in seconds

where date1 and date2 are NSDate's.

Also, note the definition of NSTimeInterval:

typedef double NSTimeInterval;

Answer 6

With Swift 5 and iOS 12, according to your needs, you may use one of the two following ways to find the difference between two dates in days.

---

#1. Using Calendar's dateComponents(_:from:to:) method

import Foundation

let calendar = Calendar.current

let startDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2010, month: 11, day: 22))!
let endDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2015, month: 5, day: 1))!

let dateComponents = calendar.dateComponents([Calendar.Component.day], from: startDate, to: endDate)

print(dateComponents) // prints: day: 1621 isLeapMonth: false
print(String(describing: dateComponents.day)) // prints: Optional(1621)

---

#2. Using DateComponentsFormatter's string(from:to:) method

import Foundation

let calendar = Calendar.current

let startDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2010, month: 11, day: 22))!
let endDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2015, month: 5, day: 1))!

let formatter = DateComponentsFormatter()
formatter.unitsStyle = .full
formatter.allowedUnits = [NSCalendar.Unit.day]

let elapsedTime = formatter.string(from: startDate, to: endDate)
print(String(describing: elapsedTime)) // prints: Optional("1,621 days")