Count number of days between two dates

Question

How do I count the number of days between these two dates?

start_date = Date.parse \"2012-03-02 14:46:21 +0100\"
end_date =  Date.parse \"2012-04-02 14:46:21         


        

Answer 1

To have the number of whole days between two dates (DateTime objects):

((end_at - start_at).to_f / 1.day).floor

Answer 2

def business_days_between(date1, date2)
  business_days = 0
  date = date2
  while date > date1
   business_days = business_days + 1 unless date.saturday? or date.sunday?
   date = date - 1.day
  end
  business_days
end

Answer 3

Rails has some built in helpers that might solve this for you. One thing to keep in mind is that this is part of the Actionview Helpers, so they wont be available directly from the console.

Try this

<% start_time =  "2012-03-02 14:46:21 +0100" %>
<% end_time   =  "2012-04-02 14:46:21 +0200" %>
<%= distance_of_time_in_words(start_time, end_time)  %>

 "about 1 month"

Answer 4

To get the number of days difference by two dates:

(start.to_date...end.to_date).count - 1
or 
(end.to_date - start.to_date).to_i