Get the difference between 2 Dates in Days using TypeScript

Get the difference between 2 Dates in Days using TypeScript #

To get the difference between 2 dates in days:

1. Get the number of milliseconds between the unix epoch and the dates.
2. Subtract the milliseconds of the start date from the milliseconds of the end date.
3. Convert the milliseconds to days.

Copied!
function getDayDiff(startDate: Date, endDate: Date): number {
  const msInDay = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;

  return Math.round(Math.abs(Number(endDate) - Number(startDate)) / msInDay);
}

// 👇️ 10
console.log(getDayDiff(new Date('2022-03-17'), new Date('2022-03-27')));

// 👇️ 30
console.log(getDayDiff(new Date('2022-04-17'), new Date('2022-05-17')));

We created a reusable function which returns the number of days between 2 dates.

The msInDay variable stores the number of milliseconds there are in a day.

It is the same as calling the getTime() method on both of the Date objects to get a timestamp in milliseconds.

Copied!
function getDayDiff(startDate: Date, endDate: Date): number {
  const msInDay = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;

  // 👇️ explicitly calling getTime()
  return Math.round(
    Math.abs(endDate.getTime() - startDate.getTime()) / msInDay,
  );
}

// 👇️ 10
console.log(getDayDiff(new Date('2022-03-17'), new Date('2022-03-27')));

// 👇️ 30
console.log(getDayDiff(new Date('2022-04-17'), new Date('2022-05-17')));

This might be the more clear and explicit approach for readers of your code.

We used the Math.abs function to handle a scenario where we subtract a greater timestamp from a smaller one.

The Math.abs function returns the absolute value of a number. In other words, if the number is positive, the number is returned and if the number is negative, the negation of the number is returned.

Copied!
console.log(Math.abs(-5)); // 👉️ 5
console.log(Math.abs(5)); // 👉️ 5

We passed the value to the Math.round function to round to the nearest integer to deal with Daylight saving time.

Here are some examples of how the Math.round function works.

Copied!
console.log(Math.round(2.49)); // 👉️ 2
console.log(Math.round(2.5)); // 👉️ 3

The function rounds the number up or down to the nearest integer.

If the number is positive and its fractional portion is less than 0.5, it gets rounded to the lower absolute value.