Python: Comparing two dates

Question

I would like to know how many days are passed from a x ago to today

I wrote this:

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1629195530 # A month ago
before = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)
daysBefore = before.strftime("%d")

now = datetime.now()
today = now.strftime("%d")

print(f"daysBefore {daysBefore} - today {today}")
daysPassed = int(today) - int(daysBefore)

But so it seems, daysBefore is returning the days of the month, I can't get my head around this :(

Does this answer your question? [Difference between two dates in Python](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8419564/difference-between-two-dates-in-python) — Christophe, Sep 17 '21 at 10:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 17 '21 at 10:44

1

print(f"daysBefore {daysBefore} - today {today}")

The reason this doesn't work is that it gives the day of the month. For example 17th of July and 17th of August will give a difference of zero days.

Therefore the recommend method is as @abdul Niyas P M says, use the whole date.time format to subtract two dates and afterwards extract the days.

answered Sep 17 '21 at 10:44

3dSpatialUser

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That's why I asked the question, I don't know how! – YakuzaNY Sep 17 '21 at 10:45
Again, credits to @Abdul Niyas P M : `daysPassed= (now - before).days` will give the days passed. – 3dSpatialUser Sep 17 '21 at 10:45

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 07 '21 at 12:08

1

Your issue is due to this: strftime("%d")
You are converting you date to a string and then to an int to make the difference. You can just use the datetime to do this for you:

timestamp = 1629195530 # A month ago
before = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)
now = datetime.now()

print(f"daysBefore {before} - today {now}")
daysPassed = now - before
print(daysPassed.days)

edited Nov 07 '21 at 12:08

Nimantha

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answered Sep 17 '21 at 10:50

CyDevos

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Ehsan Rahi · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-17T11:29:31.177

1

Exact format with date time hour minute accuracy

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1629195530 # A month ago
before = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)
now = datetime.now()
print(now - before))

edited Sep 17 '21 at 11:29

answered Sep 17 '21 at 11:24

Ehsan Rahi

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Python: Comparing two dates

3 Answers3