How to Compare Time Differences in Python

In Python, working with dates and time is a common task. Whether you are creating a scheduling application, tracking time elapsed in a countdown timer, or simply logging the time of events, you will need to know how to compare time differences. In this tutorial, we will walk through how to compute and compare time differences in Python.

Step 1: Import Necessary Libraries

To manipulate and compare time, we will need to import Python’s built-in datetime library. This library provides several useful functions for manipulating dates and times.

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import datetime

Step 2: Create Dates or Time

Create two datetime objects that you want to compare. In this example, we’re going to create two times for certain events, event1 and event2.

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event1 = datetime.datetime.now()
event2 = datetime.datetime(2020, 5, 17, 12, 30)

Step 3: Compute the Time Difference

You can compute the difference between two datetime objects using subtraction. This operation returns a timedelta object representing the difference between the two times.

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time_difference = event2 - event1
print(time_difference)

The output might be:

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-2 days, 21:34:12.861751

Step 4: Understand the Time Difference

The timedelta object that represents the difference between two datetime objects can be manipulated and inspected in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples:

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print(time_difference.days)
print(time_difference.seconds)
print(time_difference.total_seconds())

The outputs might be:

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-2
77451
-167747.138249

Step 5: Compare Time Differences

You can compare timedelta objects just like you would compare integers or floats. For example, you can check if one time is greater than or less than another time, or check if two times are equal.

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if time_difference > datetime.timedelta(hours=24):
    print("The events are more than a day apart.")
else:
    print("The events are less than a day apart.")

Before conclusion, here is the complete Python code from this tutorial.

Full Python Code

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import datetime
 
event1 = datetime.datetime.now()
event2 = datetime.datetime(2020, 5, 17, 12, 30)
 
time_difference = event2 - event1
print(time_difference)
 
print(time_difference.days)
print(time_difference.seconds)
print(time_difference.total_seconds())
 
if time_difference > datetime.timedelta(hours=24):
    print("The events are more than a day apart.")
else:
    print("The events are less than a day apart.")

Conclusion

Python’s datetime module is very powerful and flexible and it makes comparing time and date differences in Python straightforward. Remember, practice makes perfect. Therefore, the more you practice, the more proficient you will become at handling dates and times in Python.