You'd need to break down the days and time separately then subtract. Have you got a script example you are working on?

@Dbeard,

EZ-Script has a few limitations and some parser bugs.
If you are doing complex or repetitive calculations, I would invest my time in a Plugin.

$fromDate = "10/27/2016 1:00:00 PM"
#$fromDate = now()
$toDate   = "10/28/2016 1:00:00 AM"

DefineArray($tmp_ar, 22, 0)
# Working Array 
# pos description
#  0 - fromDate - year
#  1 - fromDate - month
#  2 - fromDate - day
#  3 - fromDate - hour
#  4 - fromDate - minutes
#  5 - fromDate - seconds
#  6 - fromDate - leap year : 1=yes 0=no
#  7 - fromDate - month's days
#  8 - toDate   - year
#  9 - toDate   - month
# 10 - toDate   - day
# 11 - toDate   - hour
# 12 - toDate   - minutes
# 13 - toDate   - seconds
# 14 - toDate   - leap year : 1=yes 0=no
# 15 - toDate   - month's days
# 16 - total    - year(s)
# 17 - total    - month(s)
# 18 - total    - day(s)
# 19 - total    - hour(s)
# 20 - total    - minute(s)
# 21 - total    - second(s)


#parse fromDate
$ParseDate_IN_DateTime=$fromDate
$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex=0
Goto(ParseDate)

#parse toDate
$ParseDate_IN_DateTime=$toDate
$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex=8
Goto(ParseDate)
  
Goto(CalcDiff)

Print("fromDate:" + $fromDate)
Print("  toDate:" + $toDate)
Goto(PrintDiff)  
  
Halt()  
  
  
: PrintDiff  
  #ARC bug don't use ( in a string
  if ($tmp_ar[16]>0)
    Print($tmp_ar[16] + " year[s]" )
  endif 
  if ($tmp_ar[17]>0)
    Print($tmp_ar[17] + " month[s]" )
  endif 
  if ($tmp_ar[18]>0)
    Print($tmp_ar[18] + " day[s]" )
  endif 
  if ($tmp_ar[19]>0)
    Print($tmp_ar[19] + " hour[s]" )
  endif 
  if ($tmp_ar[20]>0)
    Print($tmp_ar[20] + " minute[s]" )
  endif 
  if ($tmp_ar[21]>0)
    Print($tmp_ar[21] + " second[s]" )
  endif 
  
  Return()
  
:CalcDiff
  #expects:
  #  tmp_ar : array with at least 22 elements (0..7=fromDate, 8..15=toDate, 16..21=#totals)
  
  #Note:  EZ-Script parser bug (need spaces when combining multiple inline operations)
  
  #tmp1 is used to flag an overflow
  
  #calculate #seconds
  if ($tmp_ar[5] > $tmp_ar[13])
    $tmp_ar[21]=$tmp_ar[13] + 60 - $tmp_ar[5]
    $tmp1=1 
  else
    $tmp_ar[21]=$tmp_ar[13] - $tmp_ar[5]
    $tmp1=0
  endif
  
  #calculate #minutes
  if ($tmp_ar[4] + $tmp1>$tmp_ar[12])
    $tmp_ar[20]=$tmp_ar[12] + 60 - $tmp_ar[4] - $tmp1 
    $tmp1=1
  else 
    $tmp_ar[20]=$tmp_ar[12] - $tmp_ar[4] - $tmp1 
    $tmp1=0
  endif

  #calculate #hours
  if ($tmp_ar[3] + $tmp1>$tmp_ar[11])
    $tmp_ar[19] = $tmp_ar[11] + 24 - $tmp_ar[3] - $tmp1
    $tmp1 = 1
  else
    $tmp_ar[19] = $tmp_ar[11] - $tmp_ar[3] - $tmp1
    $tmp1 = 0
  endif

  #calculate #days
  if ($tmp_ar[2] + $tmp1> $tmp_ar[10])
    $tmp_ar[18]=$tmp_ar[10] + $tmp_ar[7] - $tmp_ar[2] - $tmp1
    $tmp1=1 
  else
    $tmp_ar[18]=$tmp_ar[10] - $tmp_ar[2] - $tmp1
    $tmp1=0
  endif

  #calculate #months
  if ($tmp_ar[1] + $tmp1>$tmp_ar[9])
    $tmp_ar[17]=$tmp_ar[9] + 12 - $tmp_ar[1] - $tmp1 
    $tmp1=1
  else 
    $tmp_ar[17]=$tmp_ar[9] - $tmp_ar[1] - $tmp1 
    $tmp1=0
  endif

  #calculate #years
  $tmp_ar[16] = $tmp_ar[8] - $tmp_ar[0] - $tmp1
  
  Return()


  
  
:ParseDate
  #expects: 
  #   $ParseDate_IN_DateTime  : variable with the datetime EN-US format
  #   ParseDate_IN_StartIndex : Index to store the datetime in the array (0=first date, 8=second date, 16=next date) 
   
  $tmp1=split($ParseDate_IN_DateTime, " ", 0)
  $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex]=cint(split($tmp1, "/", 2))
  $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+1]=cint(split($tmp1, "/", 0))
  $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+2]=cint(split($tmp1, "/", 1))

  $tmp1=split($ParseDate_IN_DateTime, " ", 1)
  $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+3]=cint(split($tmp1, ":", 0))
  $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+4]=cint(split($tmp1, ":", 1))
  $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+5]=cint(split($tmp1, ":", 2))

  #convert am/pm to 24 hours (0..23)
  $tmp1=split($ParseDate_IN_DateTime, " ", 2)
  if ($tmp1="AM" AND $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+3]=12)
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+3]=0
  elseif ($tmp1="PM" AND $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+3]<12)
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+3]=$tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+3]+12  
  endif
  
  #leap year calculation
  $tmp1=$tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex] % 4
  $tmp2=$tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex] % 100
  $tmp3=$tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex] % 400
  
  if ($tmp1=0 AND $tmp2!=0)
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+6]=1
  elseif ($tmp3=0)
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+6]=1
  else
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+6]=0
  endif

  #number of days in the month calculation
  $tmp1=$tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+1]
  if ($tmp1=2)
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+7]=28+$tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+6]
  elseif ($tmp1=4 OR $tmp1=6 OR $tmp1=9 OR $tmp1=11)
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+7]=30
  else
    $tmp_ar[$ParseDate_IN_StartIndex+7]=31
  endif
  Return()

c# version:

var fromDate = DateTime.ParseExact("10/28/2016 7:00:01 AM", "M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
var toDate = DateTime.ParseExact("10/29/2016 10:30:54 PM", "M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Console.WriteLine("{0:%d} days, {0:%h} hours, {0:%m} minutes, {0:%s} seconds", toDate - fromDate);

output:

Thanks, ptp. I appreciate the code, not sure my skills are up to coding a plugin. I have trouble manipulating a date. I will start reviewing the plugin documentation and tutorial to see if I can figure it out.

@dbeard,

fixed a bug and added comments to explain my logic.

[feature] DateTime Functions MinDate() MaxDate() MonthName() AddDays() AddMonths() AddYears() AddHours() AddMinute() AddSeconds() FmtNum()

• Get number format from <https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dwhawy9k(v=vs.110).aspx>; FmtDate()
• Get date format from <https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8kb3ddd4(v=vs.110).aspx>;

Casting Functions These functions are to cast objects from one datatype to another To Double: CDBL() To Integer: CInt() To Long: CLong() To Unsigned Integer: CUint() To Unsigned Long: CULong() To DateTime: CDateTime() [/feature]

$startDate = "10/29/2016 1:00:00 PM"
$endDate = "10/28/2016 2:02:02 PM"

$diff = CDateTime($startDate) - CDateTime($endDate)

print($diff)

@DJ,

That's a major refactoring! I tried that before but does not work as the OP wants. does not handle days, months, years.

$fromDate = "11/17/1974 10:00:00 PM"
$toDate   = "10/27/2016 4:29:00 PM"
$diff = CDateTime($toDate) - CDateTime($fromDate)
print($diff)

Check the output:

Your code is very fun and impressive! You could save a bit of code by parsing the output of this...

$startDate = "10/29/2016 1:00:00 PM"
$endDate = "5/28/2014 2:02:02 PM"

$diff = CDateTime($startDate) - CDateTime($endDate)

The $diff in this case is 884.22:57:58. That's

• 884 days
• 22 hours
• 57 minutes
• 58 seconds

I just added a fmttimespan() to EZ-Script for the next release. It will allow formatting of a timespan (which is what a datetime subtraction/addition creates)

@DJ,

yes it was more an exercise i can't do that in my day job

I like to test concepts: Goto / Return (like a function call) Working with an array to minimize variable usage Reusing a (function call)

everything went well.

yes i could parse the big number (days), but i would need to calculate the leap years, to extract years, then how many leap years in between, so i decided to do it from scratch.