# ee.Date.difference

Returns the difference between two Dates in the specified units; the result is floating-point and based on the average length of the unit.

<br />

| Usage | Returns |
|---|---|
| `Date.difference(start, unit)` | Float |

| Argument | Type | Details |
|---|---|---|
| this: `date` | Date |   |
| `start` | Date |   |
| `unit` | String | One of 'year', 'month', 'week', 'day', 'hour', 'minute', or 'second'. |

## Examples

### Code Editor (JavaScript)

```javascript
// Demonstrates the ee.Date.difference method.

var DATE_1 = ee.Date('2020-01-01');
var DATE_2 = ee.Date('2020-01-15');

var diff_1 = DATE_2.difference(DATE_1, 'days');
var diff_2 = DATE_1.difference(DATE_2, 'weeks');

print('The difference between ',
      DATE_2,
      ' relative to ',
      DATE_1,
      ' is ',
      diff_1,
      ' days.');

print('The difference between ',
      DATE_1,
      ' relative to ',
      DATE_2,
      ' is ',
      diff_2,
      ' weeks.');
```
Python setup

See the [Python Environment](https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/python_install) page for information on the Python API and using
`geemap` for interactive development.

```python
import ee
import geemap.core as geemap
```

### Colab (Python)

```python
DATE_1 = ee.Date('2020-01-01')
DATE_2 = ee.Date('2020-01-15')

# Format the dates as strings.
t1 = DATE_1.format('YYYY-MM-DD').getInfo()
t2 = DATE_2.format('YYYY-MM-DD').getInfo()

# Calculate the differences between dates.
diff_1 = DATE_2.difference(DATE_1, 'days').getInfo()
diff_2 = DATE_1.difference(DATE_2, 'weeks').getInfo()

print(f'The difference between {t2} relative to {t1} is {diff_1} days.')
print(f'The difference between {t1} relative to {t2} is {diff_2} weeks.')
```