$dateDiff

The $dateDiff operator calculates the difference between two dates in various units such as years, months, days, etc. It's useful for determining the duration between two timestamps in your dataset.

Syntax

$dateDiff: {
   startDate: <expression>,
   endDate: <expression>,
   unit: <string>,
   timezone: <string>, // Optional
   startOfWeek: <string> // Optional
}

Parameters

Parameter Description
startDate The beginning date for the calculation.
endDate The ending date for the calculation.
unit The unit of time to measure the difference. Valid values include: year, quarter, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, millisecond.
timezone Optional. The timezone to use for the calculation.
startOfWeek Optional. The starting day of the week. Valid values are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Example

Let's understand the usage with sample json from stores dataset.

{
  "_id": "e6410bb3-843d-4fa6-8c70-7472925f6d0a",
  "name": "Relecloud | Toy Collection - North Jaylan",
  "location": {
    "lat": 2.0797,
    "lon": -94.4134
  },
  "staff": {
    "employeeCount": {
      "fullTime": 7,
      "partTime": 4
    }
  },
  "sales": {
    "salesByCategory": [
      {
        "categoryName": "Educational Toys",
        "totalSales": 3299
      }
    ],
    "revenue": 3299
  },
  "promotionEvents": [
    {
      "eventName": "Massive Markdown Mania",
      "promotionalDates": {
        "startDate": {
          "Year": 2024,
          "Month": 9,
          "Day": 21
        },
        "endDate": {
          "Year": 2024,
          "Month": 9,
          "Day": 29
        }
      },
      "discounts": [
        {
          "categoryName": "Remote Control Toys",
          "discountPercentage": 6
        },
        {
          "categoryName": "Building Sets",
          "discountPercentage": 21
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "company": "Relecloud",
  "city": "North Jaylan",
  "lastUpdated": {
    "$timestamp": {
      "t": 1733313006,
      "i": 1
    }
  },
  "storeOpeningDate": "2024-09-05T11:50:06.549Z"
}

Example 1: Calculate duration in days between two dates

The query uses $dateDiff to compute the number of units (e.g., days, months) between two date fields. It helps measure durations like event length or time since a given date.

db.stores.aggregate([
  { $match: { _id: "e6410bb3-843d-4fa6-8c70-7472925f6d0a" } },
  { $unwind: "$promotionEvents" },
  {
    $project: {
      eventName: "$promotionEvents.eventName",
      startDate: {
        $dateFromParts: {
          year: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.startDate.Year",
          month: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.startDate.Month",
          day: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.startDate.Day"
        }
      },
      endDate: {
        $dateFromParts: {
          year: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.endDate.Year",
          month: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.endDate.Month",
          day: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.endDate.Day"
        }
      },
      durationInDays: {
        $dateDiff: {
          startDate: {
            $dateFromParts: {
              year: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.startDate.Year",
              month: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.startDate.Month",
              day: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.startDate.Day"
            }
          },
          endDate: {
            $dateFromParts: {
              year: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.endDate.Year",
              month: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.endDate.Month",
              day: "$promotionEvents.promotionalDates.endDate.Day"
            }
          },
          unit: "day"
        }
      }
    }
  }
])

The query returns the durationInDays along with other fields for the specified stores document.

{
  "_id": "e6410bb3-843d-4fa6-8c70-7472925f6d0a",
  "eventName": "Massive Markdown Mania",
  "startDate": "2024-09-21T00:00:00.000Z",
  "endDate": "2024-09-29T00:00:00.000Z",
  "durationInDays": 8
}

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