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diffTime - Compute the difference between two timestamps

The diffTime function calculates the duration between two timestamps. It is important to note that this is not the absolute difference.

  • The result is positive if to > from
  • The result is negative if to < from

Syntax

diffTime(to: timestamp, from: timestamp): interval

Arguments

Name Type Required Description
to timestamp true The timestamp to compare (typically the larger)
from timestamp true The timestamp to compare (typically smaller)

Example - Computing the time taken for a process to complete.

Consider the following document:

{
    "processing_start_time": 1728636298,
    "processing_end_time": 1728636358
}

In this example, we know which is the to and which is the from time, making diffTime a good candidate.

create time_taken_duration from diffTime(processing_start_time, processing_end_time)

This will result in an interval with a positive value, because processing_end_time is greater than processing_start_time. The resulting document will look like this:

{
    "processing_start_time": 1728636298,
    "processing_end_time": 1728636358,
    "time_taken_duration": 50s
}