Definition

string timespan(datetime $first, datetime $second, string $format, string $culture)

Calculates the difference between the two dates and formats the output using standard timespan formatting.

Parameters

datetime $first

The first date to be used in the calculation.

datetime $second

The second date to be used in the calculation.

string $format

The timespan format to be used for showing the output of the calculation.

string $culture

The culture to be used for the output. If no culture is specified, then invariant culture is used.

Returns

A formatted string containing the time difference between the two dates.

Examples

{
    a: timespan(to_datetime('2020-11-20 00:00:00Z', '', 'en-US'), to_datetime('2025-06-23 00:00:00Z', '', 'en-US'), 'g', 'en-US'),
    b: timespan(to_datetime('2025-11-23 02:00:00Z', '', 'en-US'), to_datetime('2025-11-23 06:00:00Z', '', 'en-US'), 'c', 'en-US')
}

{
  "a": "1676:0:00:00",
  "b": "04:00:00"
}