How can I calculate the difference between two dates?

Solution 1:

NSDate *date1 = [NSDate dateWithString:@"2010-01-01 00:00:00 +0000"];
NSDate *date2 = [NSDate dateWithString:@"2010-02-03 00:00:00 +0000"];

NSTimeInterval secondsBetween = [date2 timeIntervalSinceDate:date1];

int numberOfDays = secondsBetween / 86400;

NSLog(@"There are %d days in between the two dates.", numberOfDays);

EDIT:

Remember, NSDate objects represent exact moments of time, they do not have any associated time-zone information. When you convert a string to a date using e.g. an NSDateFormatter, the NSDateFormatter converts the time from the configured timezone. Therefore, the number of seconds between two NSDate objects will always be time-zone-agnostic.

Furthermore, this documentation specifies that Cocoa's implementation of time does not account for leap seconds, so if you require such accuracy, you will need to roll your own implementation.

Solution 2:

You may want to use something like this:

NSDateComponents *components;
NSInteger days;

components = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] components: NSDayCalendarUnit 
        fromDate: startDate toDate: endDate options: 0];
days = [components day];

I believe this method accounts for situations such as dates that span a change in daylight savings.

Solution 3:

NSTimeInterval diff = [date2 timeIntervalSinceDate:date1]; // in seconds

where date1 and date2 are NSDate's.

Also, note the definition of NSTimeInterval:

typedef double NSTimeInterval;