Returns a Variant (Long) specifying the number of time intervals between two specified dates.
Syntax
DateDiff(interval, date1, date2[, firstdayofweek[, firstweekofyear]])
The DateDiff function syntax has these named arguments:
| Part | Description |
|---|---|
| interval | Required. String expression that is the interval of time you use to calculate the difference between date1 and date2. |
| date1, date2 | Required; Variant (Date). Two dates you want to use in the calculation. |
| firstdayofweek | Optional. Specifies the first day of the week. If not specified, Sunday is assumed. |
| firstweekofyear | Optional. Specifies the first week of the year. If not specified, the first week is assumed to be the week in which January 1 occurs. |
Settings
The interval argument has these settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| yyyy | Year |
| q | Quarter |
| m | Month |
| y | Day of year |
| d | Day |
| w | Weekday |
| ww | Week |
| h | Hour |
| n | Minute |
| s | Second |
The firstdayofweek argument has these settings:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Use the NLS API setting. |
| 1 | Sunday (default) |
| 2 | Monday |
| 3 | Tuesday |
| 4 | Wednesday |
| 5 | Thursday |
| 6 | Friday |
| 7 | Saturday |
The firstweekofyear argument has these settings:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Use the NLS API setting. |
| 1 | Start with week in which January 1 occurs (default). |
| 2 | Start with the first week that has at least four days in the new year. |
| 3 | Start with first full week of the year. |
Remarks
You can use the DateDiff function to determine how many specified time intervals exist between two dates. For example, you might use DateDiff to calculate the number of days between two dates, or the number of weeks between today and the end of the year.
To calculate the number of days between date1 and date2, you can use either Day of year ("y") or Day ("d"). When interval is Weekday ("w"), DateDiff returns the number of weeks between the two dates. If date1 falls on a Monday, DateDiff counts the number of Mondays until date2. It counts date2 but not date1. If interval is Week ("ww"), however, the DateDiff function returns the number of calendar weeks between the two dates. It counts the number of Sundays between date1 and date2. DateDiff counts date2 if it falls on a Sunday; but it doesn't count date1, even if it does fall on a Sunday.
If date1 refers to a later point in time than date2, the DateDiff function returns a negative number.
The firstdayofweek argument affects calculations that use the "w" and "ww" interval symbols.
If date is a date literal, the specified year becomes a permanent part of that date. However, if date is enclosed in double quotation marks (" "), and you omit the year, the current year is used each time the date expression is evaluated. This makes it possible to write formulas that can be used in different years.
When comparing December 31 to January 1 of the immediately succeeding year, DateDiff for Year ("yyyy") returns 1 even though only a day has elapsed.