difftime - Linux
Overview
difftime calculates the difference between two POSIX timestamps. These timestamps can be obtained using commands like date +%s, where %s is the POSIX time format.
Syntax
difftime(end_time, start_time)
end_time: The later POSIX timestamp.start_time: The earlier POSIX timestamp.
Options/Flags
None.
Examples
- Calculate the time difference in seconds between two dates:
echo $(date +%s)
1667526663
echo $(date +%s)
1667526703
difftime 1667526703 1667526663
40
- Convert time difference from seconds to days:
secs=40
days=$(echo "$secs / 60 / 60 / 24" | bc)
echo $days
0
Common Issues
None.
Integration
- date: Commands like
date +%scan be used together with difftime to calculate time differences from the current time or specific dates. - bc: This command can be used to perform calculations on the time difference obtained from difftime.
Related Commands
dateexpr