Write a function to calc the minute diff between 2 datetime objs. assume arg1arg2.

Question

my answer:
def minutes(dt1, dt2):
    return round(dt1.minute - dt2.minute)
I get an error on the interactive code challenge environment
```minutes.py
def minutes(dt1, dt2):
  return round(dt1.minute - dt2.minute)
```

Dan Johnson · Accepted Answer

Since datetime objects represent points in time checking against their specific components won't tell you too much
For example, this will print out 19:
```Python
Equivalent to the date: January 1st 1980 at 12:30
earlier_date = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(315577830)
At the time of this post: May 23rd 2015 at 14:11
today = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(1432415498)
print(round(earlier_date.minute - today.minute))
```
It's been a bit longer than 19 minutes since the 1980s but this only checks against the minute component of the time so that's what you get.
What you'll want to do is use the resulting timedelta from subtracting two datetime objects and then use the total_seconds method to get the elapsed time.
Using the dates from before:
```Python
Note the latest date first
print( round((today - earlierdate).totalseconds() / 60) )
```
This will result in 18614021, the actual minutes that have elapsed.

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Anish Walawalkar

Anish Walawalkar

Write a function to calc the minute diff between 2 datetime objs. assume arg1>arg2.

1 Answer

Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson