How do you Calculate the Time Interval Between Two Time Strings in Python?

Calculating the Time Interval Between Two Time Strings in Python

Determining the time interval between two time strings can be a common programming requirement. In Python, the solution involves utilizing the datetime module.

Step 1: Parse Time Strings as Datetime Objects

To capture the time components in both strings, you can use the datetime.strptime() function:

from datetime import datetime
s1 = '10:33:26'
s2 = '11:15:49'
FMT = '%H:%M:%S'
t1 = datetime.strptime(s1, FMT)
t2 = datetime.strptime(s2, FMT)

This step converts the strings to datetime objects, allowing you to perform time arithmetic.

Step 2: Calculate the Time Interval

Subtract the start time (t1) from the end time (t2) to obtain a timedelta object representing the time difference:

tdelta = t2 - t1

Step 3: Handling Midnight Crossovers (Optional)

By default, if the end time is earlier than the start time, the time interval will be negative. If this is not desired, you can add conditional logic to assume the interval crosses midnight:

if tdelta.days < 0:
    tdelta = timedelta(days=0, seconds=tdelta.seconds, microseconds=tdelta.microseconds)

Step 4: Working with the Time Interval

The timedelta object provides various methods to work with the time interval. For example, you can convert it to seconds or days:

tdelta.total_seconds() # Convert to seconds
tdelta.days # Extract the number of days

Calculating the Average of Multiple Time Durations

To calculate the average of multiple time differences, convert them to seconds, sum the values, and divide by the number of intervals. Remember to ensure consistent units (e.g., hours, minutes, seconds) before calculating the average.

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