Calculating the Difference Between Two Time Periods in C#

In various C# applications—like logging systems, reports, or event planning—measuring the time gap between two events is essential.

Thankfully, the .NET framework provides a simple way to work with time using DateTime and TimeSpan structures.

This tutorial continues the concept introduced in our C language lead article, but re-implements the solution using C#’s built-in time handling features.

Namespaces Required

C# provides everything needed for time operations in the default System namespace, so no additional packages are necessary.

C# Program: Calculate the Difference Between Two Time Periods

// DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO TIME PERIODS in C# using DateTime and TimeSpan
using System;

public class W3CW
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Step-1 Define two DateTime instances
        DateTime startTime = new DateTime(2025, 5, 1, 10, 30, 0);
        DateTime endTime = new DateTime(2025, 5, 9, 15, 45, 0);

        // Step-2 Calculate the time difference using TimeSpan
        TimeSpan difference = endTime - startTime;

        // Step-3 Extract hours, minutes, and seconds
        int totalHours = (int)difference.TotalHours;
        int minutes = difference.Minutes;
        int seconds = difference.Seconds;

        // Step-4 Display the result
        Console.WriteLine("\nTIME DIFFERENCE: {0} HOURS, {1} MINUTES, {2} SECONDS", totalHours, minutes, seconds);
    }
}

Run

Output

Explanation

Here's how the logic works:

• Two DateTime variables represent the starting and ending timestamps.

• The subtraction of one DateTime from another yields a TimeSpan, which holds the duration.

• From the TimeSpan, we extract hours, minutes, and seconds for display.

This method is clean, accurate, and ideal for projects where time tracking or analysis is needed in C# applications.