Thread: writing A function which gives the number of days between two dates in the same year

alright, I've been working on a program that will give the number of days between two calendar dates. It is suggested that we write a function that gives the number of days between two dates in a year. I can see how this would work, because then I could multiply that number of days by 365+ leap years, but I can't figure out the logic behind that function. Here is my program so far to show what I have.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
int days, month, year, days_1, month_1, year_1, leapy, ndays;

int daysinmonth(int month) /*there is a problem in this statement, your printf is reading out ridiculous numbers for days, don't forget to ask*/
{
        switch(month)
        {
        case 1:
        case 3:
        case 5:
        case 7:
        case 8:
        case 10:
        case 12:
                return 31;
        case 2:
                return 28;
        case 4:
        case 6:
        case 9:
        case 11:
                return 30;
        default:
                return -1;
        }
}
int leap(int year)
{
        if(year%400 ==0 || (year%100 != 0 && year%4 == 0))
        {
        leapy=1;
        }
        else
        {
        leapy=0;
        }

}

double difftime(time, time_1)
{
printf("difftime(month, month_1)=%d",difftime(month, month_1));
}
 

int main(void)
{
int days_1, month_1, year_1;
char a, b, a1, b1;
printf("intput a date in the follwing format:\n");
printf("mmddyyyy: in other words the two digit day,two digit month,\n");
printf("and four digit year, with no slashes or heifens anywhere.\n");
scanf("%d%c%d%c%d", &month, &a, &days, &b, &year);
        if(month<0 || month>12 || days<0 || days>31 || year<0)
        {
        printf("data not valid");
        }
printf("enter the later date in the same format:\n");
scanf("%d%c%d%c%d", &month_1, &a1, &days_1, &b1, &year_1);
ndays=daysinmonth(month);
printf("days in month=%d\n", ndays);
leap(year);
printf("%d", leap);
 
difftime(month, month_1);
return 0;
}

My switch function works well, so I get the correct number of days in a month (thanks to tater) returned, and I've messed around with using the difftime function and dividing by 86,400 to get the proper number of days, but that hasn't worked. So my question is, how do I exactly go about writing this function that will give me the number of days between two dates in the same year?

what if I changed my switch statement to this...

Code:

 switch(month)
        {
        case 1:
        case 3:
        case 5:
        case 7:
        case 8:
        case 10:
        case 12:
                return 31;
        case 2:
                (if(leap(year)=0)
                return 28
                else return 29;
        case 4:
        case 6:
        case 9:
        case 11:
                return 30;
        default:
                return -1;
        }

where is your break code after case? i think you should use break code after every case, otherwise, it will always return -1 or 30.

Originally Posted by rac1

where is your break code after case? i think you should use break code after every case, otherwise, it will always return -1 or 30.

Code:

 switch(month)
        {
        case 1:
        case 3:
        case 5:
        case 7:
        case 8:
        case 10:
        case 12:
                return 31;
        case 2:
                return 28
        case 4:
        case 6:
        case 9:
        case 11:
                return 30;
        default:
                return -1;
        }

You don't want break statments in there... you want it to fall through till it finds a return statement at which case the function returns with the stated value. In effect it works like a great big OR statement...

The real problem with the version in message #1 is in line 41... He's using a library function name as a local function name then calling the function from within... in fact, what he's doing is recursively calling his own function with no escape clause.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
int days, month, year, days_1, month_1, year_1, leapy, ndays, ddays, days_total;

int daysinmonth(int month) /*there is a problem in this statement, your printf is reading out ridiculous numbers for days, don't forget to ask*/
{
        switch(month)
        {
        case 1:
        case 3:
        case 5:
        case 7:
        case 8:
        case 10:
        case 12:
                return 31;
        case 2:
                return 28;
        case 4:
        case 6:
        case 9:
        case 11:
                return 30;
        default:
                return -1;
        }
}
int leap(int year)
{
        if(year%400 ==0 || (year%100 != 0 && year%4 == 0))
        {
        leapy=1;
        }
        else
        {
        leapy=0;
        }

}
daysinyear(int days, int month, int days_1, int month_1)
{
int i=0;
days_total = daysinmonth(month) - days;
for(i = month+1;i < month_1 - 1;++i);
days_total += daysinmonth(i);
days_total += days_1;
return days_total;
}

int main(void)
{
int days_1, month_1, year_1;
char a, b, a1, b1;
printf("intput a date in the follwing format:\n");
printf("mmddyyyy: in other words the two digit day,two digit month,\n");
printf("and four digit year, with no slashes or heifens anywhere.\n");

scanf("%d%c%d%c%d", &month, &a, &days, &b, &year);
        if(month<0 || month>12 || days<0 || days>31 || year<0)
        {
        printf("data not valid");
        }
printf("enter the later date in the same format:\n");
scanf("%d%c%d%c%d", &month_1, &a1, &days_1, &b1, &year_1);
daysinmonth(month);
daysinmonth(month_1);
printf("days_total=%d",daysinyear(days, month, days_1, month_1));
return 0;
}

When I run this code it reads out 60 days for the dates 1/1/1 to 1/2/1. The logic you use seems good, I'm wondering if it's maybe the way I'm calling the daysinmonth or daysinyear function? thanks for all the help.