R: Description of time span classes in lubridate

timespan {lubridate} | R Documentation

## Description of time span classes in lubridate

### Description

A time span can be measured in three ways: as a duration, an interval, or a period.

- durations record the exact number of seconds in a time span. They measure the exact passage of time but do not always align with human measurements like hours, months and years.

- periods record the change in the clock time between two date-times. They are measured in human units: years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

- intervals are time spans bound by two real date-times. Intervals can be accurately converted to periods and durations.

### Examples

    duration(3690, "seconds")
    period(3690, "seconds")
    period(second = 30, minute = 1, hour = 1)
    interval(ymd_hms("2009-08-09 13:01:30"), ymd_hms("2009-08-09 12:00:00"))

    date <- ymd_hms("2009-03-08 01:59:59") # DST boundary
    date + days(1)
    date + ddays(1)

    date2 <- ymd_hms("2000-02-29 12:00:00")
    date2 + years(1)
    # self corrects to next real day

    date3 <- ymd_hms("2009-01-31 01:00:00")
    date3 + c(0:11) * months(1)

    span <- date2 %--% date  #creates interval

    date <- ymd_hms("2009-01-01 00:00:00")
    date + years(1)
    date - days(3) + hours(6)
    date + 3 * seconds(10)

    months(6) + days(1)

[Package lubridate version 1.7.2 Index]