Python Tutorial

The 'timedelta()' function of Python is present in the datetime library, which is usually used to calculate differences in given dates. We can also use it to manipulate dates in Python, and this function makes it very easy for users to manipulate dates.

Syntax:

Datetime.timedelta(days = 0, seconds = 0, microseconds = 0, milliseconds = 0, minutes = 0, hours = 0, weeks = 0)
Return: Date

For better understanding, we will show how to use the "datetime.timedelta()" function the following example:

Example 1:

In this example, we will print the future dates of three years and three days:

from datetime import datetime as D_T, timedelta as T_D
  
  
# Using current time
initializing_time_for_now = D_T.now()
  
# To print initial date
print ("Initial Date: ", str(initializing_time_for_now))
  
# For Calculating the future dates of three years
Future_Date_After_THREE_yrs = initializing_time_for_now + \
                        T_D(days = 1095)
  # For Calculating the future dates of three days
Future_Date_After_THREE_days = initializing_time_for_now + \
                         T_D(days = 2)
  
# Now, we will print the calculated future dates
print('Future Date after Three years: ', str(Future_Date_After_THREE_yrs))
print('Future Date after Three days: ', str(Future_Date_After_THREE_days))

Output:

Initial Date: 2021-10-14 00:09:43.611036
Future Date after Two years: 2023-10-15 00:09:43.611036
Future Date after Two days: 2021-10-17 00:09:43.611036

Example 2:

In this example, we will see how we can print the past dates of two years and two hours:

from datetime import datetime as D_T, timedelta as T_D
  
# Using current time
initializing_time_for_now = D_T.now()
  
# To print initial date
print ("Initial Date:", str(initializing_time_for_now))
  
  
# For Calculating the past dates of two year
Past_Date_Before_TWO_yrs = initializing_time_for_now - \
                       timedelta(days = 730)
  
# For Calculating the past dates of two hours
Past_Date_Before_TWO_hours = initializing_time_for_now - \
                        timedelta(hours = 2)
  
  
# Now, we will print the calculated Past Dates
print('Past date before two years: ', str(Past_Date_Before_TWO_yrs))
print('Past date before two hours: ', str(Past_Date_Before_TWO_hours))

Output:

Initial Date: 2021-10-14 00:19:18.449629
Past date before two years: 2019-10-15 00:19:18.449629
Past date before two hours: 2021-10-13 22:19:18.449629

Example 3:

In this example, we will calculate the difference between the two different dates:

from datetime import datetime as D_T, timedelta as T_D
  
  
# Using current time
initializing_time_for_now = D_T.now()
  
# To print initial date
print ("Initial Date:", str(initializing_time_for_now))
  
# Some another datetime
New_time = initializing_time_for_now + \
                 T_D(days = 7, hours = 6, milliseconds = 55, seconds = 12)
  
New_time_1 = initializing_time_for_now + \
                 T_D(days = 12, hours = 64, milliseconds = 215, seconds = 90)
# We will print the new time
print ("New calculated time: ", str(New_time))
  
  
# Now, we will print the time difference between the two Dates:
print('Time difference between the given dates is:', str(New_time - \
                            initializing_time_for_now))
print('Time difference between the initial Date and New_time_1 is:', str(New_time_1 - \
                            initializing_time_for_now))

Output:

Initial Date: 2021-10-14 00:31:13.920503
New calculated time:  2021-10-21 06:31:25.975503
Time difference between the given dates is: 7 days, 6:00:12.055000
Time difference between the initial Date and New_time_1 is: 14 days, 16:01:30.215000

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned about the 'datetime.timedelta()' function of the datetime library in Python. We have also discussed various examples for better understanding the concept of manipulating dates and calculating the difference between two dates.

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