Subtracting one time stamp from another

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:32 pm

Is it possible to subtract one time stamp from another?
For example, I am interested in finding the difference between 07:06:44 and 07:00:00.

Thanks much,
Rory

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:37 pm

I find it best to use VBScript for DateDiff

Here is a line calculating elapsed time in minutes:
VBEval>DateDiff("n","%timStart%","%timStop%"),numMinutes

timStart and timStop are filled using GetTime>

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:09 am

Thanks Bob,
It does work but rounds the time to the nearest minute. Is it possible to include the seconds too?

Rory

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:22 am

For measuring elapsed time I always use VBScript's Timer function which returns seconds since midnight. Therefore easy to subtract start from finish and get elapsed seconds. Lots of examples here - search site for Timer.

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:09 pm

I have not used Timer, but seem to recall that there may be a problem if using times that go past midnight, using different dates. That is why I end up using DateDiff instead. Multiple dates are taken care of automatically.

To get seconds, use "s":

Code: Select all

VBEval>DateDiff("s","%timStart%","%timStop%"),numSeconds

But this will be total seconds. You will need to take the remainder of seconds to use with minutes, like this:

Code: Select all

VBEval>DateDiff("n","%timStart%","%timStop%"),numMinutes 
VBEval>DateDiff("s","%timStart%","%timStop%"),numSeconds
\\ Help file does not have a sample of using MOD operator.  May not work.
Let>numSeconds={Mod(%NumSeconds%,60)}
Let>ElapsedTime=%numMinutes%:%numSeconds%

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:37 pm

Thanks Bob,
I can not seem to get the following line to work for me:

Let>numSeconds={Mod(%numSeconds%,60)}

I get an error message "opMod not allowed here"
Any suggestions?

Rory

Me_again · Post by **Me_again** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:42 pm

Mod is confusing, it's:

Let>numSeconds={%numSeconds% mod 60}

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:52 pm

Thanks for the help. It works just like I needed it to.

Rory

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 10:56 pm

Glad it works Rory.

And thanks for the syntax Me_again. As I noted in my script, the syntax for MOD was unknown to me.

Marcus, I think we need to have sample with syntax format added to Help file with Arithmetic Operators. Also need example for DIV? Is it the same as MOD?

Me_again · Post by **Me_again** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:46 pm

Yes, div is the same:

Let>qq={12345 div 100}
MDL>qq

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:42 am

Hmm, I have come to accept that the syntax is implied. MOD and DIV are both arithmetic OPERATORS, not functions. No different from +. -, -, / symbols. They are used the same way, value1 operator value2.

I am used to other languages where MOD is more of a function like INT, ABS, ROUND, etc.

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:51 am

Bob Hansen wrote:Hmm, I have come to accept that the syntax is implied. MOD and DIV are both arithmetic OPERATORS, not functions. No different from +. -, -, / symbols. They are used the same way, value1 operator value2.

I was going to say the same thing. They are documented in the help file under "Complex Expressions" -> "Arithmetic Operators" along with the easy ones: +, - etc