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Creating Custom Functions
Custom Function API Reference

Transformation Language Reference

10.5.6
- 10.5.7
- 10.5.1
- 10.5
- 10.4.0

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DATE_DIFF

Returns the length of time between two dates. You can request the format to be years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, or nanoseconds. The

PowerCenter Integration Service

subtracts the second date from the first date and returns the difference.

The

PowerCenter Integration Service

calculates the DATE_DIFF function based on the number of months instead of the number of days. It calculates the date differences for partial months with the days selected in each month. To calculate the date difference for the partial month, the

PowerCenter Integration Service

adds the days used within the month. It then divides the value with the total number of days in the selected month.

The

PowerCenter Integration Service

gives a different value for the same period in the leap year period and a non-leap year period. The difference occurs when February is part of the DATE_DIFF function. The DATE_DIFF divides the days with 29 for February for a leap year and 28 if it is not a leap year.

For example, you want to calculate the number of months from September 13 to February 19. In a leap year period, the DATE_DIFF function calculates the month of February as 19/29 months or 0.655 months. In a non-leap year period, the DATE_DIFF function calculates the month of February as 19/28 months or 0.678 months. The

PowerCenter Integration Service

similarly calculates the difference in the dates for the remaining months and the DATE_DIFF function returns the totaled value for the specified period.

Some databases might use a different algorithm to calculate the difference in dates.

Syntax

DATE_DIFF( date1, date2, format )

The following table describes the arguments for this command:

Argument	Required/ Optional	Description
date1	Required	Date/Time datatype. Passes the values for the first date you want to compare. You can enter any valid transformation expression.
date2	Required	Date/Time datatype. Passes the values for the second date you want to compare. You can enter any valid transformation expression.
format	Required	Format string specifying the date or time measurement. You can specify years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, or nanoseconds. You can specify only one part of the date, such as 'mm'. Enclose the format strings within single quotation marks. The format string is not case sensitive. For example, the format string 'mm' is the same as 'MM', 'Mm' or 'mM'.

Return Value

Double value. If date1
is later than date2
, the return value is a positive number. If date1
is earlier than date2
, the return value is a negative number.

0 if the dates are the same.

NULL if one (or both) of the date values is NULL.

Examples

The following expressions return the number of hours between the DATE_PROMISED and DATE_SHIPPED ports:

DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'HH' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'HH12' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'HH24' )

DATE_PROMISED	DATE_SHIPPED	RETURN VALUE
Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	-2100
Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	2100
NULL	Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL
Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL	NULL
Jun 3 1997 1:13:46PM	Aug 23 1996 4:20:16PM	6812.89166666667
Feb 19 2004 12:00:00PM	Feb 19 2005 12:00:00PM	-8784

The following expressions return the number of days between the DATE_PROMISED and the DATE_SHIPPED ports:

DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'D' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'DD' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'DDD' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'DY' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'DAY' )

DATE_PROMISED	DATE_SHIPPED	RETURN VALUE
Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	-87.5
Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	87.5
NULL	Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL
Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL	NULL
Jun 3 1997 1:13:46PM	Aug 23 1996 4:20:16PM	283.870486111111
Feb 19 2004 12:00:00PM	Feb 19 2005 12:00:00PM	-366

The following expressions return the number of months between the DATE_PROMISED and DATE_SHIPPED ports:

DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'MM' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'MON' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'MONTH' )

DATE_PROMISED	DATE_SHIPPED	RETURN VALUE
Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	-2.91935483870968
Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	2.91935483870968
NULL	Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL
Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL	NULL
Jun 3 1997 1:13:46PM	Aug 23 1996 4:20:16PM	9.3290162037037
Feb 19 2004 12:00:00PM	Feb 19 2005 12:00:00PM	-12

The following expressions return the number of years between the DATE_PROMISED and DATE_SHIPPED ports:

DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'Y' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'YY' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'YYY' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'YYYY' )

DATE_PROMISED	DATE_SHIPPED	RETURN VALUE
Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	-0.24327956989247
Mar 29 1997 12:00:00PM	Jan 1 1997 12:00:00AM	0.24327956989247
NULL	Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL
Dec 10 1997 5:55:10PM	NULL	NULL
Jun 3 1997 1:13:46PM	Aug 23 1996 4:20:16PM	0.77741801697531
Feb 19 2004 12:00:00PM	Feb 19 2005 12:00:00PM	-1

The following expressions return the number of months between the DATE_PROMISED and DATE_SHIPPED ports:

DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'MM' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'MON' )
DATE_DIFF( DATE_PROMISED, DATE_SHIPPED, 'MONTH' )

DATE_PROMISED	DATE_SHIPPED	LEAP YEAR VALUE (in Months)	NON-LEAP YEAR VALUE (in Months)
Sept 13	Feb 19	-5.237931034	-5.260714286
NULL	Feb 19	NULL	N/A
Sept 13	NULL	NULL	N/A

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Table of Contents

Transformation Language Reference

Transformation Language Reference

DATE_DIFF

DATE_DIFF

Syntax

Return Value

Examples