How can I calculate the difference between two dates?

Question

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.

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.

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

where date1 and date2 are NSDate's.

Also, note the definition of NSTimeInterval:

typedef double NSTimeInterval;

Checkout this out. It takes care of daylight saving , leap year as it used iOS calendar to calculate.You can change the string and conditions to includes minutes with hours and days.

+(NSString*)remaningTime:(NSDate*)startDate endDate:(NSDate*)endDate
{
    NSDateComponents *components;
    NSInteger days;
    NSInteger hour;
    NSInteger minutes;
    NSString *durationString;

    components = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] components: NSCalendarUnitDay|NSCalendarUnitHour|NSCalendarUnitMinute fromDate: startDate toDate: endDate options: 0];

    days = [components day];
    hour = [components hour];
    minutes = [components minute];

    if(days>0)
    {
        if(days>1)
            durationString=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d days",days];
        else
            durationString=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d day",days];
        return durationString;
    }
    if(hour>0)
    {        
        if(hour>1)
            durationString=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d hours",hour];
        else
            durationString=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d hour",hour];
        return durationString;
    }
    if(minutes>0)
    {
        if(minutes>1)
            durationString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d minutes",minutes];
        else
            durationString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d minute",minutes];

        return durationString;
    }
    return @""; 
}

With Swift 5 and iOS 12, according to your needs, you may use one of the two following ways to find the difference between two dates in days.

---

#1. Using Calendar's dateComponents(_:from:to:) method

import Foundation

let calendar = Calendar.current

let startDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2010, month: 11, day: 22))!
let endDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2015, month: 5, day: 1))!

let dateComponents = calendar.dateComponents([Calendar.Component.day], from: startDate, to: endDate)

print(dateComponents) // prints: day: 1621 isLeapMonth: false
print(String(describing: dateComponents.day)) // prints: Optional(1621)

---

#2. Using DateComponentsFormatter's string(from:to:) method

import Foundation

let calendar = Calendar.current

let startDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2010, month: 11, day: 22))!
let endDate = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2015, month: 5, day: 1))!

let formatter = DateComponentsFormatter()
formatter.unitsStyle = .full
formatter.allowedUnits = [NSCalendar.Unit.day]

let elapsedTime = formatter.string(from: startDate, to: endDate)
print(String(describing: elapsedTime)) // prints: Optional("1,621 days")

Swift 4
Try this and see (date range with String):

// Start & End date string
let startingAt = "01/01/2018"
let endingAt = "08/03/2018"

// Sample date formatter
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy"

// start and end date object from string dates
var startDate = dateFormatter.date(from: startingAt) ?? Date()
let endDate = dateFormatter.date(from: endingAt) ?? Date()


// Actual operational logic
var dateRange: [String] = []
while startDate <= endDate {
    let stringDate = dateFormatter.string(from: startDate)
    startDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: 1, to: startDate) ?? Date()
    dateRange.append(stringDate)
}

print("Resulting Array - \(dateRange)")

Swift 3

var date1 = Date(string: "2010-01-01 00:00:00 +0000")
var date2 = Date(string: "2010-02-03 00:00:00 +0000")
var secondsBetween: TimeInterval = date2.timeIntervalSince(date1)
var numberOfDays: Int = secondsBetween / 86400
print(numberOfDays)