Extract Time Difference Between Two datetimes in Milliseconds in Python (2 Examples)

In this article, you’ll learn how to print the difference between two datetimes in milliseconds in Python.

Introducing Example Data

We have to load the datetime module to Python as shown below:

import datetime                                   # Import datetime

The following datetime objects x1 and x2 will be used for this tutorial.

x1 = datetime.datetime(2021, 3, 19, 9, 10, 00)    # Example date
print(x1)
# 2021-03-19 09:10:00

x2 = datetime.datetime(2020, 12, 30, 18, 45, 00)  # Example date
print(x2)
# 2020-12-30 18:45:00

Example 1: Get Time Difference of Two datetimes

If we want the difference between our datetimes, we can subtract one from another by using the – operator:

diff = x1 - x2                                    # Calculate difference
print(diff)
# 78 days, 14:25:00

There are 78 days, 14 hours, and 25 minutes between our two datetime objects.

Example 2: Return Difference in Milliseconds

To transform the above information into milliseconds, we use the total_seconds function and multiply the result with one thousand:

milli_secs_diff = diff.total_seconds() * 1000     # Time in milliseconds
print(milli_secs_diff)
# 6791100000.0

Now, we have the result in milliseconds as wanted: 6791100000.0 milliseconds.

Note: This article was created in collaboration with Matthias Bäuerlen. Matthias is a programmer who helps to create tutorials on the Python programming language. You might find more info about Matthias and his other articles on his profile page.