How to increment an integer for each passing month after a fixed date?

Question

The need is to keep track of the current season (as an integer) of a game, that increments by one at every 1st of a month.

How is it possible at runtime to count the amount of times it has been the 1st in a month since a fixed date?

Example: Fixed date for season 1 start is 01/04/2015. A user uses the application at 09/09/15. At this point the application needs to know, that the current season now is season 6.

score -1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

-1

This is equivalent to computing the difference in months, since then the current day is not counted. So this answer here will apply to your specific problem as well: https://stackoverflow.com/a/1526004/2606322

int months = (now.Month - start.Month) + 12 * (now.Year - start.Year);

There is a subtile difference however. If your start date is on a 1st, you have to add another month, whether or not you want to count that.

int months = (now.Month - start.Month) + 12 * (now.Year - start.Year) + (start.Day == 1 ? 1 : 0);

Or, if you want to have a 1 based count, just add 1, as you probably do in your example.

int months = (now.Month - start.Month) + 12 * (now.Year - start.Year) + 1;

edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

Community

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answered Sep 09 '15 at 09:17

azt

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If that link contains the answer, why not vote to close the question as a duplicate instead of reposting? – DavidG Sep 09 '15 at 09:24
The question is different, since he wants the number of times the 1st has passed, as opposed to the difference in months. The answer is the same, but I feel there is a significant semantic difference. – azt Sep 09 '15 at 09:27
@DavidG: Pointed out the difference now. Hope that is fine with you. There *is* a difference of +/-1 depending on how you define it. Just wanted to give credit to a similar algorithm. – azt Sep 09 '15 at 09:35

Mohit S · Answer 2 · 2015-09-10T01:25:07.000

-1

If i understand the question correctly

DateTime dt1 = new DateTime(2014, 4, 1);
DateTime dt2 = DateTime.Now;
// since you have taken the "1" start is 01/04/2015.
int Diff = (dt2.Month - dt1.Month) + ((dt2.Year - dt1.Year) * 12) + 1;

edited Sep 10 '15 at 01:25

answered Sep 09 '15 at 09:22

Mohit S

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There's really no need to post a screenshot of the code running, it brings nothing extra to the answer. – DavidG Sep 09 '15 at 09:24
@DavidG It show the the value of Diff is `6` – Mohit S Sep 09 '15 at 09:24
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That could be mentioned in text, the image adds nothing of value. – DavidG Sep 09 '15 at 09:25
Anyway your code doesn't work. Change the first date to be in `1-April-2014` and it will still return 6. – DavidG Sep 09 '15 at 09:30
@DavidG Thats why I have uploaded the image as well. :P – Mohit S Sep 09 '15 at 10:03
Let me say again: Your code does *not* work. – DavidG Sep 09 '15 at 10:13

How to increment an integer for each passing month after a fixed date?

2 Answers2