Functions approach¶

Get the difference of days between 2 dates¶

Import get_days_diff_between¶

First, import get_days_diff_between from date_assistant:

from date_assistant import get_days_diff_between


get_days_diff_between('2021-01-01', '2021-01-11')
# 10

Pass the dates as arguments¶

Using the function is every easy. Just pass the dates you want use as parameters:

from date_assistant import get_days_diff_between


get_days_diff_between('2021-01-01', '2021-01-11')
# 10

Note

💡 Please consider that the default date format is '%Y-%m-%d', eg: '2021-12-25'. Anyways, you can indicate the format of your date if you need to.

Indicate the format of the date¶

Maybe the dates you are using have a different format, you can indicate that:

from date_assistant import get_days_diff_between


get_days_diff_between(
    '01-01-2021',
    '01-11-2021',
    date1_format='%d-%m-%Y',
    date2_format='%m-%d-%Y',
)
# 10

Use the format constants¶

When indicating the format of a date, it may be hard to remember which is the string that matches the format of the date. Use the format constants which have a more intuitive name for the format of the date:

from date_assistant import get_days_diff_between
from date_assistant.formats import DD_MM_YYYY, MM_DD_YYYY


get_days_diff_between(
    '01-01-2021',
    '01-11-2021',
    date1_format=DD_MM_YYYY,
    date2_format=MM_DD_YYYY,
)
# 10

Get the difference of months between 2 dates¶

Use get_months_diff_between¶

The same things described for the get_days_diff_between function applies when using get_months_diff_between. You need to import the function, pass the dates as arguments and you can indicate the format of the dates if you need to:

from date_assistant import get_months_diff_between
from date_assistant.formats import DD_MM_YYYY


get_months_diff_between(
    '2021-02-14',
    '14-02-2022',
    date2_format=DD_MM_YYYY,
)
# 12

Note

💡 Notice that we didn’t indicate a format for date1, that’s because date1 has the same format as the default format: %Y-%m-%d.

What happens if we use this function with the last day of a month and the first day of the next one? What do you think the output will be? Let’s take a look:

from date_assistant import get_months_diff_between


get_months_diff_between(
    '2021-01-31',
    '2021-02-01',
)
# 0

As you can see, we get a 0. Because this function only counts the full months between dates. If you need to know how many months have started between 2 dates, use get_months_started_between.

Get the amount of months started between 2 dates¶

Sometimes you need to know how many months have started between 2 dates. That means that between the last day of a month and the first day of the next one, 1 month started. Let’s look explore that use case in this section.

Import get_months_started_between¶

First, import get_months_started_between from date_assistant:

from date_assistant import get_months_started_between


get_months_started_between(
    '2021-01-31',
    '2021-02-01',
)
# 1

Pass the dates as arguments¶

Using the function is every easy. Just pass the dates you want use as parameters, in this case we are using the last day of a month and the first day of the next one as dates:

from date_assistant import get_months_started_between


get_months_started_between(
    '2021-01-31',
    '2021-02-01',
)
# 1

See how we get a 1 as result. That’s because a new month started between the dates, in this case february.

Note

💡 This function allows the same parameters as the previous functions we saw. For example, you can indicate the format of the dates.

Get the difference of years between 2 dates¶

Use get_years_diff_between¶

The same things described for the get_days_diff_between function applies when using get_years_diff_between. You need to import the function, pass the dates as arguments and you can indicate the format of the dates if you need to:

from date_assistant import get_years_diff_between
from date_assistant.formats import DD_MM_YYYY


get_years_diff_between(
    '2021-02-14',
    '14-02-2022',
    date2_format=DD_MM_YYYY,
)
# 1

Note

💡 Notice that we didn’t indicate a format for date1, that’s because date1 has the same format as the default format: %Y-%m-%d.

What happens if we use this function with the last day of a year and the first day of the next one? What do you think the output will be? Let’s take a look:

from date_assistant import get_months_diff_between


get_years_diff_between(
    '2021-12-31',
    '2022-01-01',
)
# 0

As you can see, we get a 0. Because this function only counts the full years between dates. If you need to know how many years have started between 2 dates, use get_years_started_between.

Get the amount of years started between 2 dates¶

Sometimes you need to know how many years have started between 2 dates. That means that between the last day of a year and the first day of the next one, 1 year started. Let’s look explore that use case in this section.

Import get_years_started_between¶

First, import get_years_started_between from date_assistant:

from date_assistant import get_years_started_between


get_years_started_between(
    '2021-12-31',
    '2022-01-01',
)
# 1

Pass the dates as arguments¶

Using the function is every easy. Just pass the dates you want use as parameters, in this case we are using the last day of a year and the first day of the next one as dates:

from date_assistant import get_years_started_between


get_years_started_between(
    '2021-12-31',
    '2022-01-01',
)
# 1

See how we get a 1 as result. That’s because a new year started between the dates, in this case the year 2022.

Note

💡 This function allows the same parameters as the previous functions we saw. For example, you can indicate the format of the dates.