How to calculate the time interval between two time strings

Time travel - Handling edge cases

Whenever you are embarking on a journey involving time calculations, beware of edge cases. What if your time machine takes you past midnight, making end time technically earlier than start? Fear not, time traveler! This situation is manageable by adjusting the end time:

from datetime import timedelta

if end < start:
    # One whole day of time travel is not enough? You got it!
    end += timedelta(days=1)
difference = end - start
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Just like in any time-bending narrative, always validate your inputs.

Dealing with different time dimensions- Using regular expressions

Sometimes, your time coordinates may come in many different formats. This is when regular expressions become a time traveler's trusty sidekick:

import re
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

# A time pattern emerges from the time-space continuum
pattern = re.compile(r'(\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2})')
match = pattern.match('08:45:00')

# You have been successfully ported to a new time dimension!
start = datetime.strptime(':'.join(match.groups()), '%H:%M:%S')
# Repeat for the end time signal...

# The interval? Elementary, my time lord!
difference = (end - start).total_seconds()
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This approach is highly adaptable and perfect for handling non-standard time dimensions!

Journey across days! - Handling multi-day intervals

For time travel across multiple days, you need a master strategy:

# Remember: You control the space-time continuum!
end_date = datetime.strptime('1 15:20:00', '%d %H:%M:%S')
start_date = datetime.strptime('1 08:45:00', '%d %H:%M:%S')

# Bullseye on the time interval. Ride on!
difference = (end_date - start_date).total_seconds()
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In this example, '1' signifies the day of the month. Modify accordingly based on your input.

Convert intervals for simple perception

Representing time differences over an hour for a simplified display is a cakewalk! Here's a swift conversion approach:

hours, remainder = divmod(difference.seconds, 3600)
minutes, seconds = divmod(remainder, 60)

# Time in HD: Hours-Minutes-Seconds!
print(f"{hours}h {minutes}m {seconds}s")  # Here's your '6h 35m 0s' - Now in 3D!
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Here, divmod() helps to split the total seconds into more human-friendly segments.

Average time intervals - Time travel experiments!

Time travel scientists often look for averages:

intervals = [(end - start).total_seconds() for start, end in time_pairs]
average_interval = sum(intervals) / len(intervals)

# Time average - The much-needed stability in a time traveler's life!
average_timedelta = timedelta(seconds=average_interval)
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Where time_pairs is designed to collect all your tasty start and end datetime pairs from your time feast.

Expert level time management

dateutil.relativedelta is your swiss army knife for more complex date operations:

from dateutil.relativedelta import relativedelta

difference = relativedelta(end, start)
# Time travel has never been so versatile!
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This advanced tool makes it a breeze to work with even month or year intervals.