> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://mariadb.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/date-time-functions/timestampdiff.md).

# TIMESTAMPDIFF

## Syntax

```bnf
TIMESTAMPDIFF(unit,datetime_expr1,datetime_expr2)
```

## Description

Returns `datetime_expr2` - `datetime_expr1`, where `datetime_expr1` and`datetime_expr2` are date or datetime expressions. One expression may be a date and the other a datetime; a date value is treated as a datetime having the time part '00:00:00' where necessary. The unit for the result (an integer) is given by the unit argument. The legal values for unit are the same as those listed in the description of the [TIMESTAMPADD()](/docs/server/reference/sql-functions/date-time-functions/timestampadd.md) function, that is, `MICROSECOND`, `SECOND`, `MINUTE`, `HOUR`, `DAY`, `WEEK`, `MONTH`, `QUARTER`, or `YEAR`.

`TIMESTAMPDIFF` can also be used to calculate age.

## Examples

```sql
SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH,'2003-02-01','2003-05-01');
+------------------------------------------------+
| TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH,'2003-02-01','2003-05-01') |
+------------------------------------------------+
|                                              3 |
+------------------------------------------------+

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR,'2002-05-01','2001-01-01');
+-----------------------------------------------+
| TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR,'2002-05-01','2001-01-01') |
+-----------------------------------------------+
|                                            -1 |
+-----------------------------------------------+

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE,'2003-02-01','2003-05-01 12:05:55');
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE,'2003-02-01','2003-05-01 12:05:55') |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                   128885 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
```

Calculating age:

```sql
SELECT CURDATE();
+------------+
| CURDATE()  |
+------------+
| 2019-05-27 |
+------------+

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR, '1971-06-06', CURDATE()) AS age;
+------+
| age  |
+------+
|   47 |
+------+

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR, '1971-05-06', CURDATE()) AS age;
+------+
| age  |
+------+
|   48 |
+------+
```

Age as of 2014-08-02:

```sql
SELECT name, date_of_birth, TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR,date_of_birth,'2014-08-02') AS age 
  FROM student_details;
+---------+---------------+------+
| name    | date_of_birth | age  |
+---------+---------------+------+
| Chun    | 1993-12-31    |   20 |
| Esben   | 1946-01-01    |   68 |
| Kaolin  | 1996-07-16    |   18 |
| Tatiana | 1988-04-13    |   26 |
+---------+---------------+------+
```

<sub>*This page is licensed: GPLv2, originally from*</sub> [<sub>*fill\_help\_tables.sql*</sub>](https://github.com/MariaDB/server/blob/main/scripts/fill_help_tables.sql)

{% @marketo/form formId="4316" %}