# Date Routine **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum\ **Tags:** Adabas-Natural, Natural, Natural-Code-Samples\ **Created:** [May 20, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760 "2008-05-20T19:55:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terence\_Lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@Terence\_Lust](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Terence_Lust)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/1 "2008-05-20T19:55:40Z")
Does anyone have a simple date routine to subtract hours from a full date time value (YYYYMMDDHHIISS). Thanks for any help - I think I’m making this way too complicated! Terry ---
**Author:** ![Matthias1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@Matthias1](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Matthias1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/2 "2008-05-20T20:01:14Z")
If you use a time-field, it is very easy: ```auto define data local 1 #time (T) end-define #time := *TIMX write #time (EM=YYYY-MM-DD^HH:II:SS.T) #time := #time - 2 * 60 * 60 * 10 /* subtract 2 hours write #time (EM=YYYY-MM-DD^HH:II:SS.T) end ``` ---
**Author:** ![Terence\_Lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@Terence\_Lust](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Terence_Lust)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/3 "2008-05-20T20:15:21Z")
Thanks Matthias! ---
**Author:** ![Ralph\_Zbrog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/ralph_zbrog/32/78_2.png) [@Ralph\_Zbrog](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Ralph_Zbrog)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/4 "2008-05-20T20:17:15Z")
It’s easier than that. Forget all that multiplying by 60. Use a time constant (or initialized T-format variable) to add or subtract up to 24 hours, specified in hours, minutes and seconds. ```auto DEFINE DATA LOCAL 1 #T (T) INIT END-DEFINE SUBTRACT T'02:30:00' FROM #T /* 2 hrs 30 min DISPLAY *TIMX #T END ``` By the way, this type of question belongs in a “Natural Basics” thread. This thread is where you post code samples, open source, etc. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Smith13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@John\_Smith13](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/John_Smith13)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/5 "2015-04-27T20:51:44Z")
If I want to calculate date and time, how can I do. For example, if I have as first date: 2015-01-01 at 23:40:43 and the second date 2015-01-05 at 03:50:10, how can I do the difference between them including date and time.If I use in separate fields, one day could be the difference depending on the time. I tried to use the format T for both date/time together, but for date, the value is strange: 0000-01-05. if hour2 is greater than hour1, the date is: 0000-01-06. Does anyone know how this 0000-01-05 can be translated in days. tks. ---
**Author:** ![Jerome\_LeBlanc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/jerome_leblanc/32/111_2.png) [@Jerome\_LeBlanc](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Jerome_LeBlanc)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/6 "2015-04-27T22:06:33Z")
Once you understand that a T field is just a number representing tenths of seconds from the time origin (1/1/0000 00:00:00.0) it is not hard to figure out. ```auto DEFINE DATA LOCAL 1 T1 (T) (EM=MM/DD/YYYY-HH:II:SS.T) 1 T2 (T) (EM=MM/DD/YYYY-HH:II:SS.T) 1 TDIFF (N12) 1 DAYS (N12) 1 HOURS (N12) 1 MINS (N12) 1 SECS (N12.1) 1 TNTHS (N12.1) END-DEFINE * COMPUTE T1 = D'01/01/2015' + T'23:40:43' COMPUTE T2 = D'01/05/2015' + T'03:50:10' COMPUTE TDIFF = T2 - T1 DISPLAY T1 T2 TDIFF DIVIDE 864000 INTO TDIFF GIVING DAYS REMAINDER TNTHS DIVIDE 36000 INTO TNTHS GIVING HOURS REMAINDER TNTHS DIVIDE 600 INTO TNTHS GIVING MINS REMAINDER TNTHS DIVIDE 10 INTO TNTHS GIVING SECS REMAINDER TNTHS WRITE / 1X '=' DAYS / '=' HOURS / 1X '=' MINS / 1X '=' SECS END ``` ---
**Author:** ![Ralph\_Zbrog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/ralph_zbrog/32/78_2.png) [@Ralph\_Zbrog](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Ralph_Zbrog)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/7 "2015-04-27T22:30:31Z")
John, Take a look at the TMDIFF program in the code sample found here: [url][http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/communities/public/adanat/products/natural/codesamples/5ddd08f1-de89-11e4-89cb-cd8d7ef22065/?title=Date+%26+Time+Calculations[/url]](http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/communities/public/adanat/products/natural/codesamples/5ddd08f1-de89-11e4-89cb-cd8d7ef22065/?title=Date+%26+Time+Calculations%5B/url%5D) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Smith13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@John\_Smith13](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/John_Smith13)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/8 "2015-04-27T23:38:40Z")
Thank you Jerome, thank you Ralph. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/date-routine/76760/9 "2021-04-02T14:49:28Z")