JavaScript Date Difference, accounting for Leap Years

[jamesyreid]

Hi,

I'm really sorry to post this as I know it must have been asked
countless times before, but I can't find an answer anywhere.

Does anyone have a snippet of JavaScript code I could borrow which
calculated the difference in years and days between two dates, and
takes leap years into account?

I'm calculating the difference in the usual way, i.e....

var difference = dateTo.getTime() - dateFrom.getTime();

....and converting this millisecond value into days by using...

var daysDifference = (difference/1000/60/60/24);

But how do I then display the difference in days AND years? I've tried
the following:

var yearsDifference = Math.floor(daysDifference/365.25);
var daysLeft = Math.floor(daysDifference-(yearsDifference*365.25));

....but it gives me inaccuracies. For example, if I use my code to
calculate the difference between 05/01/1998 and 05/01/2000 it returns 1
year and 364 days!

Any assistance would be gratefully received!

 

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

Does anyone have a snippet of JavaScript code I could borrow which
calculated the difference in years and days between two dates, and
takes leap years into account?

That requires a more precise description of what you want.

I'm calculating the difference in the usual way, i.e....

var difference = dateTo.getTime() - dateFrom.getTime();

...and converting this millisecond value into days by using...

var daysDifference = (difference/1000/60/60/24);

This fails if the dates are using local time and the difference
crosses a daylight saving time boundary (i.e., a day that is not
24 hours long). At least round it to the nearest integer.

But how do I then display the difference in days AND years?

How many days and years are there between
2004-02-28 and 2005-02-28 ?
How many days and years between
2004-02-29 and 2005-02-28 ?
How many days and years between
2004-02-29 and 2005-03-01 ?

My immediate guesses would be, respectively:
one year, zero days
zero years, 365 days
one year, one day

How come moving both the start date and the end date one day forwards
changes the distance between them?

And what is the day that is one year and zero days after 2004-02-29?
If there is no day that is one year and zero days after 2004-02-29,
how long is a year?


The problem I'm trying to illustrate is that you are talking about
periods of some years and some days, when years are not a fixed number
of days.

I've tried the following:

var yearsDifference = Math.floor(daysDifference/365.25);
var daysLeft = Math.floor(daysDifference-(yearsDifference*365.25));

...but it gives me inaccuracies.

That's a matter of definition

For example, if I use my code to calculate the difference between
05/01/1998 and 05/01/2000 it returns 1 year and 364 days!

Unsurpricingly. You are defining a year to be 365.25 days. The
exact result would be a difference of one year and 364.75 days.
Then you decide to round the days, but "one year" is still not
a whole number of days.

Any assistance would be gratefully received!

What do you need it for?

A quick google gives <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/js-date1.htm#DYD>

A specification of an algorithm could be:

One whole number of years after a specific date ends on the same date
on a later year, or, if that date does not exist (i.e., it's Feb
29th), the first following date that does (Mar 1st).

The distance in years and days between two dates is the largest
number of whole years after the earlier date that is still less than
the larger date, plus the number of days from that date to the end
date.

So, algorithm:
----
function YDDiff(years,days) {
this.years = years;
this.days = days;
}
YDDiff.prototype.toString = function() {
return this.years + "y" + this.days +"d";
};

function diffYearAndDate(d1,d2) {
// ensure d1 <= d2
if (d1 > d2) { return diffYearAndDate(d2,d1); }

// find n whole years later than d1 in d2's year.
var dt = new Date(d1);
dt.setFullYear(d2.getFullYear());
// n whole years later > d2
var overflow = (dt > d2);
// max whole years later than d1 less than d2
dt = new Date(d1);
dt.setFullYear(d2.getFullYear() - overflow);
// whole years from d1 to dt
var years = dt.getFullYear() - d1.getFullYear();
// days from dt to d2, less than whole year from dt
var days = Math.round((d2 - dt)/864e5);
return new YDDiff(years,days);
}

 

[Dr John Stockton]

JRS: In article <[email protected]>
, dated Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:06:17 remote, seen in
news:comp.lang.javascript, (e-mail address removed) posted :

I'm really sorry to post this as I know it must have been asked
countless times before, but I can't find an answer anywhere.

Then you are an unskilful looker.

Does anyone have a snippet of JavaScript code I could borrow which
calculated the difference in years and days between two dates, and
takes leap years into account?

I'm calculating the difference in the usual way, i.e....

var difference = dateTo.getTime() - dateFrom.getTime();

Usual? but nowadays many people know better. That gives the difference
in absolute time (ignoring Leap Seconds).

...and converting this millisecond value into days by using...

var daysDifference = (difference/1000/60/60/24);

864e5 is easier to write than 1000/60/60/24. However, one cannot rely
on civil days all being of that length.

But how do I then display the difference in days AND years? I've tried
the following:

var yearsDifference = Math.floor(daysDifference/365.25);
var daysLeft = Math.floor(daysDifference-(yearsDifference*365.25));

...but it gives me inaccuracies. For example, if I use my code to
calculate the difference between 05/01/1998 and 05/01/2000 it returns 1
year and 364 days!

But what are those dates? This is an international newsgroup, and dates
need to be presented unambiguously. Generally, the daycount difference
for those dates is 730 days; but where FFF is used it is 731 days.

Any assistance would be gratefully received!

You should have read the newsgroup FAQ before asking. Be aware that
Google did not invent newsgroups, which was done long before the Web
appeared; they merely provide an inferior interface, and do not give
adequate guidance in the established use of News.


Since the number of days in a year is not constant, there can be no one
correct answer. One can count the full years in the interval from the
beginning, and see how many days are left. Or one can do it in reverse.
Or one can determine the daycount difference, and do some approximation
to a rounded div/mod 365.25 or 365.2425. Or ...? The different methods
will, for at least some date combinations, give different answers. One
method is in js-date1.htm on my site.

If this is coursework, then, if the instructor is intelligent (one
cannot rely on that), the point of interest should be how thoughtfully
you treat the difficulties.

But if it is a real-world application, the originators of the situation
should have given an unambiguous indication of how the results should be
obtained.

 

[Dr John Stockton]

JRS: In article <[email protected]>, dated Mon, 19 Jun 2006
20:46:04 remote, seen in Lasse Reichstein

function diffYearAndDate(d1,d2) {
// ensure d1 <= d2
if (d1 > d2) { return diffYearAndDate(d2,d1); }

// find n whole years later than d1 in d2's year.
var dt = new Date(d1);
dt.setFullYear(d2.getFullYear());
// n whole years later > d2
var overflow = (dt > d2);
// max whole years later than d1 less than d2
dt = new Date(d1);
dt.setFullYear(d2.getFullYear() - overflow);
// whole years from d1 to dt
var years = dt.getFullYear() - d1.getFullYear();
// days from dt to d2, less than whole year from dt
var days = Math.round((d2 - dt)/864e5);
return new YDDiff(years,days);
}

Using dt = new Date(d1) does not always give an Object dt
representing the same date as d1, since 1900 years may be added.

I think it noticeably slower than dt = new Date(+d1)
but dt = new Date(d1.valueOf()) has seemed slightly faster still.


When using Date Objects, one must be careful of Time :

diffYearAndDate(new Date(2000, 1, 1, 07), new Date(2001, 1, 1, 12))
-> 1y0d
diffYearAndDate(new Date(2000, 1, 1, 17), new Date(2001, 1, 1, 12))
-> 0y366d

though it is at least arguable that the calculation *should* do that,
the difference might be unexpected.

I've put a version of that in
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/js-date1.htm#DYD> and have as yet
found no disagreement with the existing code which starts with date
strings and makes less use of Date Objects (the test is flawed (at least
in IE4) for years 0..69 AD).

 

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

Using dt = new Date(d1) does not always give an Object dt
representing the same date as d1, since 1900 years may be added.

Indeed. My mistake was assuming the conversion to a primitive
value would become a number, not a string. After checking, I
can see that is not the case.

I think it noticeably slower than dt = new Date(+d1)
but dt = new Date(d1.valueOf()) has seemed slightly faster still.

The latter is also a little more readable.

When using Date Objects, one must be careful of Time :

diffYearAndDate(new Date(2000, 1, 1, 07), new Date(2001, 1, 1, 12))
-> 1y0d
diffYearAndDate(new Date(2000, 1, 1, 17), new Date(2001, 1, 1, 12))
-> 0y366d

though it is at least arguable that the calculation *should* do that,
the difference might be unexpected.

True. A more reasonable behavior would be to ignore time by doing
setHours(0,0,0,0) on the dates before starting the calculation.

/L