Difference in months between two dates

Question

How to calculate the difference in months between two dates in C#?

Is there is equivalent of VB's DateDiff() method in C#. I need to find difference in months between two dates that are years apart. The documentation says that I can use TimeSpan like:

TimeSpan ts = date1 - date2;

but this gives me data in Days. I don't want to divide this number by 30 because not every month is 30 days and since the two operand values are quite apart from each other, I am afraid dividing by 30 might give me a wrong value.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Assuming the day of the month is irrelevant (i.e. the diff between 2011.1.1 and 2010.12.31 is 1), with date1 > date2 giving a positive value and date2 > date1 a negative value

((date1.Year - date2.Year) * 12) + date1.Month - date2.Month

Or, assuming you want an approximate number of 'average months' between the two dates, the following should work for all but very huge date differences.

date1.Subtract(date2).Days / (365.25 / 12)

Note, if you were to use the latter solution then your unit tests should state the widest date range which your application is designed to work with and validate the results of the calculation accordingly.

---

Update (with thanks to Gary)

If using the 'average months' method, a slightly more accurate number to use for the 'average number of days per year' is 365.2425.

Answer 2

Here is a comprehensive solution to return a DateTimeSpan, similar to a TimeSpan, except that it includes all the date components in addition to the time components.

Usage:

void Main()
{
    DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
    DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
    var dateSpan = DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now);
    Console.WriteLine("Years: " + dateSpan.Years);
    Console.WriteLine("Months: " + dateSpan.Months);
    Console.WriteLine("Days: " + dateSpan.Days);
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + dateSpan.Hours);
    Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + dateSpan.Minutes);
    Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + dateSpan.Seconds);
    Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + dateSpan.Milliseconds);
}

Outputs:

Years: 1
Months: 5
Days: 27
Hours: 1
Minutes: 36
Seconds: 50
Milliseconds: 0

For convenience, I've lumped the logic into the DateTimeSpan struct, but you may move the method CompareDates wherever you see fit. Also note, it doesn't matter which date comes before the other.

public struct DateTimeSpan
{
    public int Years { get; }
    public int Months { get; }
    public int Days { get; }
    public int Hours { get; }
    public int Minutes { get; }
    public int Seconds { get; }
    public int Milliseconds { get; }

    public DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
    {
        Years = years;
        Months = months;
        Days = days;
        Hours = hours;
        Minutes = minutes;
        Seconds = seconds;
        Milliseconds = milliseconds;
    }

    enum Phase { Years, Months, Days, Done }

    public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
    {
        if (date2 < date1)
        {
            var sub = date1;
            date1 = date2;
            date2 = sub;
        }

        DateTime current = date1;
        int years = 0;
        int months = 0;
        int days = 0;

        Phase phase = Phase.Years;
        DateTimeSpan span = new DateTimeSpan();
        int officialDay = current.Day;

        while (phase != Phase.Done)
        {
            switch (phase)
            {
                case Phase.Years:
                    if (current.AddYears(years + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Months;
                        current = current.AddYears(years);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        years++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Months:
                    if (current.AddMonths(months + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Days;
                        current = current.AddMonths(months);
                        if (current.Day < officialDay && officialDay <= DateTime.DaysInMonth(current.Year, current.Month))
                            current = current.AddDays(officialDay - current.Day);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        months++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Days:
                    if (current.AddDays(days + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        current = current.AddDays(days);
                        var timespan = date2 - current;
                        span = new DateTimeSpan(years, months, days, timespan.Hours, timespan.Minutes, timespan.Seconds, timespan.Milliseconds);
                        phase = Phase.Done;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        days++;
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

        return span;
    }
}

Answer 3

You could do

if ( date1.AddMonths(x) > date2 )

Answer 4

If you want the exact number of full months, always positive (2000-01-15, 2000-02-14 returns 0), considering a full month is when you reach the same day the next month (something like the age calculation)

public static int GetMonthsBetween(DateTime from, DateTime to)
{
    if (from > to) return GetMonthsBetween(to, from);

    var monthDiff = Math.Abs((to.Year * 12 + (to.Month - 1)) - (from.Year * 12 + (from.Month - 1)));

    if (from.AddMonths(monthDiff) > to || to.Day < from.Day)
    {
        return monthDiff - 1;
    }
    else
    {
        return monthDiff;
    }
}

Edit reason: the old code was not correct in some cases like :

new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1901, 8, 30), Result = 11 },

Test cases I used to test the function:

var tests = new[]
{
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 2), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 2), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), Result = 1 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 1 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 9, 30), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 10, 1), Result = 1 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1901, 1, 1), Result = 12 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1911, 1, 1), Result = 132 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1901, 8, 30), Result = 11 },
};

Answer 5

I checked the usage of this method in VB.NET via MSDN and it seems that it has a lot of usages. There is no such a built-in method in C#. (Even it's not a good idea) you can call VB's in C#.

1. Add Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll to your project as a reference
2. use Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.DateDiff in your code

Answer 6

To get difference in months (both start and end inclusive), irrespective of dates:

DateTime start = new DateTime(2013, 1, 1);
DateTime end = new DateTime(2014, 2, 1);
var diffMonths = (end.Month + end.Year * 12) - (start.Month + start.Year * 12);

Answer 7

Use Noda Time:

LocalDate start = new LocalDate(2013, 1, 5);
LocalDate end = new LocalDate(2014, 6, 1);
Period period = Period.Between(start, end, PeriodUnits.Months);
Console.WriteLine(period.Months); // 16

(example source)

Answer 8

I just needed something simple to cater for e.g. employment dates where only the month/year is entered, so wanted distinct years and months worked in. This is what I use, here for usefullness only

public static YearsMonths YearMonthDiff(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate) {
    int monthDiff = ((endDate.Year * 12) + endDate.Month) - ((startDate.Year * 12) + startDate.Month) + 1;
    int years = (int)Math.Floor((decimal) (monthDiff / 12));
    int months = monthDiff % 12;
    return new YearsMonths {
        TotalMonths = monthDiff,
            Years = years,
            Months = months
    };
}

.NET Fiddle

Answer 9

You can use the DateDiff class of the Time Period Library for .NET:

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
public void DateDiffSample()
{
  DateTime date1 = new DateTime( 2009, 11, 8, 7, 13, 59 );
  DateTime date2 = new DateTime( 2011, 3, 20, 19, 55, 28 );
  DateDiff dateDiff = new DateDiff( date1, date2 );

  // differences
  Console.WriteLine( "DateDiff.Months: {0}", dateDiff.Months );
  // > DateDiff.Months: 16

  // elapsed
  Console.WriteLine( "DateDiff.ElapsedMonths: {0}", dateDiff.ElapsedMonths );
  // > DateDiff.ElapsedMonths: 4

  // description
  Console.WriteLine( "DateDiff.GetDescription(6): {0}", dateDiff.GetDescription( 6 ) );
  // > DateDiff.GetDescription(6): 1 Year 4 Months 12 Days 12 Hours 41 Mins 29 Secs
} // DateDiffSample

Answer 10

Here is my contribution to get difference in Months that I've found to be accurate:

namespace System
{
     public static class DateTimeExtensions
     {
         public static Int32 DiffMonths( this DateTime start, DateTime end )
         {
             Int32 months = 0;
             DateTime tmp = start;

             while ( tmp < end )
             {
                 months++;
                 tmp = tmp.AddMonths( 1 );
             }

             return months;
        }
    }
}

Usage:

Int32 months = DateTime.Now.DiffMonths( DateTime.Now.AddYears( 5 ) );

You can create another method called DiffYears and apply exactly the same logic as above and AddYears instead of AddMonths in the while loop.

Answer 11

This worked for what I needed it for. The day of month didn't matter in my case because it always happens to be the last day of the month.

public static int MonthDiff(DateTime d1, DateTime d2){
    int retVal = 0;

    if (d1.Month<d2.Month)
    {
        retVal = (d1.Month + 12) - d2.Month;
        retVal += ((d1.Year - 1) - d2.Year)*12;
    }
    else
    {
        retVal = d1.Month - d2.Month;
        retVal += (d1.Year - d2.Year)*12;
    }
    //// Calculate the number of years represented and multiply by 12
    //// Substract the month number from the total
    //// Substract the difference of the second month and 12 from the total
    //retVal = (d1.Year - d2.Year) * 12;
    //retVal = retVal - d1.Month;
    //retVal = retVal - (12 - d2.Month);

    return retVal;
}

Answer 12

The most precise way is this that return difference in months by fraction :

private double ReturnDiffereceBetweenTwoDatesInMonths(DateTime startDateTime, DateTime endDateTime)
{
    double result = 0;
    double days = 0;
    DateTime currentDateTime = startDateTime;
    while (endDateTime > currentDateTime.AddMonths(1))
    {
        result ++;

        currentDateTime = currentDateTime.AddMonths(1);
    }

    if (endDateTime > currentDateTime)
    {
        days = endDateTime.Subtract(currentDateTime).TotalDays;

    }
    return result + days/endDateTime.GetMonthDays;
}

Answer 13

My understanding of the total months difference between 2 dates has an integral and a fractional part (the date matters).

The integral part is the full months difference.

The fractional part, for me, is the difference of the % of the day (to the full days of month) between the starting and ending months.

public static class DateTimeExtensions
{
    public static double TotalMonthsDifference(this DateTime from, DateTime to)
    {
        //Compute full months difference between dates
        var fullMonthsDiff = (to.Year - from.Year)*12 + to.Month - from.Month;

        //Compute difference between the % of day to full days of each month
        var fractionMonthsDiff = ((double)(to.Day-1) / (DateTime.DaysInMonth(to.Year, to.Month)-1)) -
            ((double)(from.Day-1)/ (DateTime.DaysInMonth(from.Year, from.Month)-1));

        return fullMonthsDiff + fractionMonthsDiff;
    }
}

With this extension, those are the results:

2/29/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 2/28/2001 => 12
2/28/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 2/28/2001 => 12.035714285714286
01/01/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 01/16/2000 => 0.5
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 01/01/2000 => -1.0
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 02/29/2000 => 1.0
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 02/28/2000 => 0.9642857142857143
01/31/2001 TotalMonthsDifference 02/28/2001 => 1.0

Answer 14

Here is a simple solution that works at least for me. It's probably not the fastest though because it uses the cool DateTime's AddMonth feature in a loop:

public static int GetMonthsDiff(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
    if (start > end)
        return GetMonthsDiff(end, start);

    int months = 0;
    do
    {
        start = start.AddMonths(1);
        if (start > end)
            return months;

        months++;
    }
    while (true);
}

Answer 15

This simple static function calculates the fraction of months between two Datetimes, e.g.

• 1.1. to 31.1. = 1.0
• 1.4. to 15.4. = 0.5
• 16.4. to 30.4. = 0.5
• 1.3. to 1.4. = 1 + 1/30

The function assumes that the first date is smaller than the second date. To deal with negative time intervals one can modify the function easily by introducing a sign and a variable swap at the beginning.

public static double GetDeltaMonths(DateTime t0, DateTime t1)
{
     DateTime t = t0;
     double months = 0;
     while(t<=t1)
     {
         int daysInMonth = DateTime.DaysInMonth(t.Year, t.Month);
         DateTime endOfMonth = new DateTime(t.Year, t.Month, daysInMonth);
         int cutDay = endOfMonth <= t1 ? daysInMonth : t1.Day;
         months += (cutDay - t.Day + 1) / (double) daysInMonth;
         t = new DateTime(t.Year, t.Month, 1).AddMonths(1);
     }
     return Math.Round(months,2);
 }

Answer 16

You can use Noda Time https://nodatime.org/

LocalDate start = new LocalDate(2010, 1, 5);
LocalDate end = new LocalDate(2012, 6, 1);
Period period = Period.Between(start, end, PeriodUnits.Months);
Console.WriteLine(period.Months);

Answer 17

Public Class ClassDateOperation
    Private prop_DifferenceInDay As Integer
    Private prop_DifferenceInMonth As Integer
    Private prop_DifferenceInYear As Integer


    Public Function DayMonthYearFromTwoDate(ByVal DateStart As Date, ByVal DateEnd As Date) As ClassDateOperation
        Dim differenceInDay As Integer
        Dim differenceInMonth As Integer
        Dim differenceInYear As Integer
        Dim myDate As Date

        DateEnd = DateEnd.AddDays(1)

        differenceInYear = DateEnd.Year - DateStart.Year

        If DateStart.Month <= DateEnd.Month Then
            differenceInMonth = DateEnd.Month - DateStart.Month
        Else
            differenceInYear -= 1
            differenceInMonth = (12 - DateStart.Month) + DateEnd.Month
        End If


        If DateStart.Day <= DateEnd.Day Then
            differenceInDay = DateEnd.Day - DateStart.Day
        Else

            myDate = CDate("01/" & DateStart.AddMonths(1).Month & "/" & DateStart.Year).AddDays(-1)
            If differenceInMonth <> 0 Then
                differenceInMonth -= 1
            Else
                differenceInMonth = 11
                differenceInYear -= 1
            End If

            differenceInDay = myDate.Day - DateStart.Day + DateEnd.Day

        End If

        prop_DifferenceInDay = differenceInDay
        prop_DifferenceInMonth = differenceInMonth
        prop_DifferenceInYear = differenceInYear

        Return Me
    End Function

    Public ReadOnly Property DifferenceInDay() As Integer
        Get
            Return prop_DifferenceInDay
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property DifferenceInMonth As Integer
        Get
            Return prop_DifferenceInMonth
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property DifferenceInYear As Integer
        Get
            Return prop_DifferenceInYear
        End Get
    End Property

End Class

Answer 18

This is from my own library, will return the difference of months between two dates.

public static int MonthDiff(DateTime d1, DateTime d2)
{
    int retVal = 0;

    // Calculate the number of years represented and multiply by 12
    // Substract the month number from the total
    // Substract the difference of the second month and 12 from the total
    retVal = (d1.Year - d2.Year) * 12;
    retVal = retVal - d1.Month;
    retVal = retVal - (12 - d2.Month);

    return retVal;
}

Answer 19

You can have a function something like this.

For Example, from 2012/12/27 to 2012/12/29 becomes 3 days. Likewise, from 2012/12/15 to 2013/01/15 becomes 2 months, because up to 2013/01/14 it's 1 month. from 15th it's 2nd month started.

You can remove the "=" in the second if condition, if you do not want to include both days in the calculation. i.e, from 2012/12/15 to 2013/01/15 is 1 month.

public int GetMonths(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate)
{
    if (startDate > endDate)
    {
        throw new Exception("Start Date is greater than the End Date");
    }

    int months = ((endDate.Year * 12) + endDate.Month) - ((startDate.Year * 12) + startDate.Month);

    if (endDate.Day >= startDate.Day)
    {
        months++;
    }

    return months;
}

Answer 20

you can use the following extension: Code

public static class Ext
{
    #region Public Methods

    public static int GetAge(this DateTime @this)
    {
        var today = DateTime.Today;
        return ((((today.Year - @this.Year) * 100) + (today.Month - @this.Month)) * 100 + today.Day - @this.Day) / 10000;
    }

    public static int DiffMonths(this DateTime @from, DateTime @to)
    {
        return (((((@to.Year - @from.Year) * 12) + (@to.Month - @from.Month)) * 100 + @to.Day - @from.Day) / 100);
    }

    public static int DiffYears(this DateTime @from, DateTime @to)
    {
        return ((((@to.Year - @from.Year) * 100) + (@to.Month - @from.Month)) * 100 + @to.Day - @from.Day) / 10000;
    }

    #endregion Public Methods
}

Implementation !

int Age;
int years;
int Months;
//Replace your own date
var d1 = new DateTime(2000, 10, 22);
var d2 = new DateTime(2003, 10, 20);
//Age
Age = d1.GetAge();
Age = d2.GetAge();
//positive
years = d1.DiffYears(d2);
Months = d1.DiffMonths(d2);
//negative
years = d2.DiffYears(d1);
Months = d2.DiffMonths(d1);
//Or
Months = Ext.DiffMonths(d1, d2);
years = Ext.DiffYears(d1, d2); 

Answer 21

Here's a much more concise solution using VB.Net DateDiff for Year, Month, Day only. You can load the DateDiff library in C# as well.

date1 must be <= date2

VB.NET

Dim date1 = Now.AddDays(-2000)
Dim date2 = Now
Dim diffYears = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, date1, date2) - If(date1.DayOfYear > date2.DayOfYear, 1, 0)
Dim diffMonths = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, date1, date2) - diffYears * 12 - If(date1.Day > date2.Day, 1, 0)
Dim diffDays = If(date2.Day >= date1.Day, date2.Day - date1.Day, date2.Day + (Date.DaysInMonth(date1.Year, date1.Month) - date1.Day))

C#

DateTime date1 = Now.AddDays(-2000);
DateTime date2 = Now;
int diffYears = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, date1, date2) - date1.DayOfYear > date2.DayOfYear ? 1 : 0;
int diffMonths = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, date1, date2) - diffYears * 12 - date1.Day > date2.Day ? 1 : 0;
int diffDays = date2.Day >= date1.Day ? date2.Day - date1.Day : date2.Day + (System.DateTime.DaysInMonth(date1.Year, date1.Month) - date1.Day);

Answer 22

This is in response to Kirk Woll's answer. I don't have enough reputation points to reply to a comment yet...

I liked Kirk's solution and was going to shamelessly rip it off and use it in my code, but when I looked through it I realized it's way too complicated. Unnecessary switching and looping, and a public constructor that is pointless to use.

Here's my rewrite:

public class DateTimeSpan {
    private DateTime _date1;
    private DateTime _date2;
    private int _years;
    private int _months;
    private int _days;
    private int _hours;
    private int _minutes;
    private int _seconds;
    private int _milliseconds;

    public int Years { get { return _years; } }
    public int Months { get { return _months; } }
    public int Days { get { return _days; } }
    public int Hours { get { return _hours; } }
    public int Minutes { get { return _minutes; } }
    public int Seconds { get { return _seconds; } }
    public int Milliseconds { get { return _milliseconds; } }

    public DateTimeSpan(DateTime date1, DateTime date2) {
        _date1 = (date1 > date2) ? date1 : date2;
        _date2 = (date2 < date1) ? date2 : date1;

        _years = _date1.Year - _date2.Year;
        _months = (_years * 12) + _date1.Month - _date2.Month;
        TimeSpan t = (_date2 - _date1);
        _days = t.Days;
        _hours = t.Hours;
        _minutes = t.Minutes;
        _seconds = t.Seconds;
        _milliseconds = t.Milliseconds;

    }

    public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2) {
        return new DateTimeSpan(date1, date2);
    }
}

Usage1, pretty much the same:

void Main()
{
    DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
    DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
    var dateSpan = new DateTimeSpan(compareTo, now);
    Console.WriteLine("Years: " + dateSpan.Years);
    Console.WriteLine("Months: " + dateSpan.Months);
    Console.WriteLine("Days: " + dateSpan.Days);
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + dateSpan.Hours);
    Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + dateSpan.Minutes);
    Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + dateSpan.Seconds);
    Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + dateSpan.Milliseconds);
}

Usage2, similar:

void Main()
{
    DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
    DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
    Console.WriteLine("Years: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Years);
    Console.WriteLine("Months: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Months);
    Console.WriteLine("Days: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Days);
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Hours);
    Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Minutes);
    Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Seconds);
    Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Milliseconds);
}

Answer 23

In my case it is required to calculate the complete month from the start date to the day prior to this day in the next month or from start to end of month.

Ex: from 1/1/2018 to 31/1/2018 is a complete month
Ex2: from 5/1/2018 to 4/2/2018 is a complete month

so based on this here is my solution:

public static DateTime GetMonthEnd(DateTime StartDate, int MonthsCount = 1)
{
    return StartDate.AddMonths(MonthsCount).AddDays(-1);
}
public static Tuple<int, int> CalcPeriod(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
    int MonthsCount = 0;
    Tuple<int, int> Period;
    while (true)
    {
        if (GetMonthEnd(StartDate) > EndDate)
            break;
        else
        {
            MonthsCount += 1;
            StartDate = StartDate.AddMonths(1);
        }
    }
    int RemainingDays = (EndDate - StartDate).Days + 1;
    Period = new Tuple<int, int>(MonthsCount, RemainingDays);
    return Period;
}

Usage:

Tuple<int, int> Period = CalcPeriod(FromDate, ToDate);

Note: in my case it was required to calculate the remaining days after the complete months so if it's not your case you could ignore the days result or even you could change the method return from tuple to integer.

Answer 24

public static int PayableMonthsInDuration(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
    int sy = StartDate.Year; int sm = StartDate.Month; int count = 0;
    do
    {
        count++;if ((sy == EndDate.Year) && (sm >= EndDate.Month)) { break; }
        sm++;if (sm == 13) { sm = 1; sy++; }
    } while ((EndDate.Year >= sy) || (EndDate.Month >= sm));
    return (count);
}

This solution is for Rental/subscription calculation, where difference doesn't means to be subtraction, it's meant to be the span in within those two dates.

Answer 25

There's 3 cases: same year, previous year and other years.

If the day of the month does not matter...

public int GetTotalNumberOfMonths(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
    // work with dates in the right order
    if (start > end)
    {
        var swapper = start;
        start = end;
        end = swapper;
    }

    switch (end.Year - start.Year)
    {
        case 0: // Same year
            return end.Month - start.Month;

        case 1: // last year
            return (12 - start.Month) + end.Month;

        default:
            return 12 * (3 - (end.Year - start.Year)) + (12 - start.Month) + end.Month;
    }
}

Answer 26

I wrote a function to accomplish this, because the others ways weren't working for me.

public string getEndDate (DateTime startDate,decimal monthCount)
{
    int y = startDate.Year;
    int m = startDate.Month;

    for (decimal  i = monthCount; i > 1; i--)
    {
        m++;
        if (m == 12)
        { y++;
            m = 1;
        }
    }
    return string.Format("{0}-{1}-{2}", y.ToString(), m.ToString(), startDate.Day.ToString());
}

Answer 27

There are not a lot of clear answers on this because you are always assuming things.

This solution calculates between two dates the months between assuming you want to save the day of month for comparison, (meaning that the day of the month is considered in the calculation)

Example, if you have a date of 30 Jan 2012, 29 Feb 2012 will not be a month but 01 March 2013 will.

It's been tested pretty thoroughly, probably will clean it up later as we use it, but here:

private static int TotalMonthDifference(DateTime dtThis, DateTime dtOther)
{
    int intReturn = 0;
    bool sameMonth = false;

    if (dtOther.Date < dtThis.Date) //used for an error catch in program, returns -1
        intReturn--;

    int dayOfMonth = dtThis.Day; //captures the month of day for when it adds a month and doesn't have that many days
    int daysinMonth = 0; //used to caputre how many days are in the month

    while (dtOther.Date > dtThis.Date) //while Other date is still under the other
    {
        dtThis = dtThis.AddMonths(1); //as we loop, we just keep adding a month for testing
        daysinMonth = DateTime.DaysInMonth(dtThis.Year, dtThis.Month); //grabs the days in the current tested month

        if (dtThis.Day != dayOfMonth) //Example 30 Jan 2013 will go to 28 Feb when a month is added, so when it goes to march it will be 28th and not 30th
        {
            if (daysinMonth < dayOfMonth) // uses day in month max if can't set back to day of month
                dtThis.AddDays(daysinMonth - dtThis.Day);
            else
                dtThis.AddDays(dayOfMonth - dtThis.Day);
        }
        if (((dtOther.Year == dtThis.Year) && (dtOther.Month == dtThis.Month))) //If the loop puts it in the same month and year
        {
            if (dtOther.Day >= dayOfMonth) //check to see if it is the same day or later to add one to month
                intReturn++;
            sameMonth = true; //sets this to cancel out of the normal counting of month
        }
        if ((!sameMonth)&&(dtOther.Date > dtThis.Date))//so as long as it didn't reach the same month (or if i started in the same month, one month ahead, add a month)
            intReturn++;
    }
    return intReturn; //return month
}

Answer 28

Based on the excellent DateTimeSpan work done above, I've normalized the code a bit; this seems to work pretty well:

public class DateTimeSpan
{
  private DateTimeSpan() { }

  private DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
  {
    Years = years;
    Months = months;
    Days = days;
    Hours = hours;
    Minutes = minutes;
    Seconds = seconds;
    Milliseconds = milliseconds;
  }

  public int Years { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Months { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Days { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Hours { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Minutes { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Seconds { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Milliseconds { get; private set; } = 0;

  public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
  {
    if (StartDate.Equals(EndDate)) return new DateTimeSpan();
    DateTimeSpan R = new DateTimeSpan();
    bool Later;
    if (Later = StartDate > EndDate)
    {
      DateTime D = StartDate;
      StartDate = EndDate;
      EndDate = D;
    }

    // Calculate Date Stuff
    for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddYears(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddYears(1), R.Years++) ;
    if (R.Years > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddYears(R.Years);
    for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddMonths(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddMonths(1), R.Months++) ;
    if (R.Months > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddMonths(R.Months);
    for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddDays(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddDays(1), R.Days++) ;
    if (R.Days > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddDays(R.Days);

    // Calculate Time Stuff
    TimeSpan T1 = EndDate - StartDate;
    R.Hours = T1.Hours;
    R.Minutes = T1.Minutes;
    R.Seconds = T1.Seconds;
    R.Milliseconds = T1.Milliseconds;

    // Return answer. Negate values if the Start Date was later than the End Date
    if (Later)
      return new DateTimeSpan(-R.Years, -R.Months, -R.Days, -R.Hours, -R.Minutes, -R.Seconds, -R.Milliseconds);
    return R;
  }
}

Answer 29

Insane method that counts all days, so super precise

helper class :

public class DaysInMonth
{
    public int Days { get; set; }
    public int Month { get; set; }
    public int Year { get; set; }
    public bool Full { get; set; }
}

function:

    public static List<DaysInMonth> MonthsDelta(DateTime start, DateTime end)
    {
        
        var dates = Enumerable.Range(0, 1 + end.Subtract(start).Days)
          .Select(offset => start.AddDays(offset))
          .ToArray();

        DateTime? prev = null;
        int days = 0;

        List < DaysInMonth > list = new List<DaysInMonth>();

        foreach (DateTime date in dates)
        {
            if (prev != null)
            {
                if(date.Month!=prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month)
                {
                    DaysInMonth daysInMonth = new DaysInMonth();
                    daysInMonth.Days = days;
                    daysInMonth.Month = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month;
                    daysInMonth.Year = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Year;
                    daysInMonth.Full = DateTime.DaysInMonth(daysInMonth.Year, daysInMonth.Month) == daysInMonth.Days;
                    list.Add(daysInMonth);
                    days = 0;
                }
            }
            days++;
            prev = date;
        }

        //------------------ add last
        if (days > 0)
        {
            DaysInMonth daysInMonth = new DaysInMonth();
            daysInMonth.Days = days;
            daysInMonth.Month = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month;
            daysInMonth.Year = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Year;
            daysInMonth.Full = DateTime.DaysInMonth(daysInMonth.Year, daysInMonth.Month) == daysInMonth.Days;
            list.Add(daysInMonth);
        }

        return list;
    }

Answer 30

Expanded Kirks struct with ToString(format) and Duration(long ms)

 public struct DateTimeSpan
{
    private readonly int years;
    private readonly int months;
    private readonly int days;
    private readonly int hours;
    private readonly int minutes;
    private readonly int seconds;
    private readonly int milliseconds;

    public DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
    {
        this.years = years;
        this.months = months;
        this.days = days;
        this.hours = hours;
        this.minutes = minutes;
        this.seconds = seconds;
        this.milliseconds = milliseconds;
    }

    public int Years { get { return years; } }
    public int Months { get { return months; } }
    public int Days { get { return days; } }
    public int Hours { get { return hours; } }
    public int Minutes { get { return minutes; } }
    public int Seconds { get { return seconds; } }
    public int Milliseconds { get { return milliseconds; } }

    enum Phase { Years, Months, Days, Done }


    public string ToString(string format)
    {
        format = format.Replace("YYYY", Years.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("MM", Months.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("DD", Days.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("hh", Hours.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("mm", Minutes.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("ss", Seconds.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("ms", Milliseconds.ToString());
        return format;
    }


    public static DateTimeSpan Duration(long ms)
    {
        DateTime dt = new DateTime();
        return CompareDates(dt, dt.AddMilliseconds(ms));
    }


    public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
    {
        if (date2 < date1)
        {
            var sub = date1;
            date1 = date2;
            date2 = sub;
        }

        DateTime current = date1;
        int years = 0;
        int months = 0;
        int days = 0;

        Phase phase = Phase.Years;
        DateTimeSpan span = new DateTimeSpan();

        while (phase != Phase.Done)
        {
            switch (phase)
            {
                case Phase.Years:
                    if (current.AddYears(years + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Months;
                        current = current.AddYears(years);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        years++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Months:
                    if (current.AddMonths(months + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Days;
                        current = current.AddMonths(months);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        months++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Days:
                    if (current.AddDays(days + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        current = current.AddDays(days);
                        var timespan = date2 - current;
                        span = new DateTimeSpan(years, months, days, timespan.Hours, timespan.Minutes, timespan.Seconds, timespan.Milliseconds);
                        phase = Phase.Done;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        days++;
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

        return span;
    }
}