Time Difference in Seconds Between Datetimes in Python

To get the difference between two times in seconds using Python, we can use the total_seconds() function after subtracting two dates.

import datetime

datetime1 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,5,0,0,0)
datetime2 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,7,0,0,0)

difference_d2_d1 = datetime2 - datetime1

print(difference_d2_d1.total_seconds())

#Output:
172800.0

When working in Python, many times we need to create variables which represent dates and times. When creating and displaying values related to times, sometimes we need to display the difference between times in seconds, minutes or hours.

We can easily show the time difference in seconds between date times.

To get the difference between two date times, you can subtract two times just like we would subtract two numbers.

After subtracting two times, we get a datetime.timedelta object. timedelta objects have many great functions, and to get the difference of two times in seconds, we can use the total_seconds() function.

Below is a simple example of how to get the time difference between two times in Python.

import datetime

datetime1 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,5,0,0,0)
datetime2 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,7,0,0,0)

difference_d2_d1 = datetime2 - datetime1

print(difference_d2_d1.total_seconds())

#Output:
172800.0

Time Difference in Minutes and Hours Using Python

We can take the example above and easily find the time difference between two times and convert it to minutes or hours.

To find the difference in two times in minutes, we can divide the call to total_seconds() by 60.

Below is an example in Python of how to find the difference between two times in minutes.

import datetime

datetime1 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,5,0,0,0)
datetime2 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,7,0,0,0)

difference_d2_d1 = datetime2 - datetime1

print(difference_d2_d1.total_seconds()/60)

#Output:
2880.0

If you instead want to find the difference between two times in hours, you can divide the call to total_seconds() by 3600.

Below is an example in Python of how to find the difference between two times in hours.

import datetime

datetime1 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,5,0,0,0)
datetime2 = datetime.datetime(2022,3,7,0,0,0)

difference_d2_d1 = datetime2 - datetime1

print(difference_d2_d1.total_seconds()/3600)

#Output:
48.0

Hopefully this article has been useful for you to use Python to find the time difference in seconds between two datetime objects.