datetime difference python code example

Example 1: get time between things python

>>> import datetime
>>> time1 = datetime.datetime.now()
>>> time2 = datetime.datetime.now() # waited a few minutes before pressing enter
>>> elapsedTime = time2 - time1
>>> elapsedTime
datetime.timedelta(0, 125, 749430)
>>> divmod(elapsedTime.total_seconds(), 60)
(2.0, 5.749430000000004) # divmod returns quotient and remainder
# 2 minutes, 5.74943 seconds

Example 2: python datetime difference in seconds

import datetime as dt

a = dt.datetime(2013,12,30,23,59,59)
b = dt.datetime(2013,12,31,23,59,59)

(b-a).total_seconds()

Example 3: time difference between two datetime.time

# Create datetime objects for each time (a and b)
dateTimeA = datetime.datetime.combine(datetime.date.today(), a)
dateTimeB = datetime.datetime.combine(datetime.date.today(), b)
# Get the difference between datetimes (as timedelta)
dateTimeDifference = dateTimeA - dateTimeB
# Divide difference in seconds by number of seconds in hour (3600)  
dateTimeDifferenceInHours = dateTimeDifference.total_seconds() / 3600