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PowerShell Commands

New-TimeSpan

New-TimeSpan [-Days <Int32>] [-Hours <Int32>] [-Minutes <Int32>] [-Seconds <Int32>] [<CommonParameters>]
New-TimeSpan [[-Start] <DateTime>] [[-End] <DateTime>] [<CommonParameters>]

The New-TimeSpan cmdlet creates a TimeSpan object that represents a time interval. You can use a TimeSpan object to add or subtract time from DateTime objects.

Without parameters, a New-Timespan command returns a timespan object that represents a time interval of zero.

Parameters

-Days <Int32>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies the days in the time span. The default value is 0.

-End <DateTime>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the end of a time span. The default value is the current date and time.

-Hours <Int32>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies the hours in the time span. The default value is zero.

-Minutes <Int32>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies the minutes in the time span. The default value is 0.

-Seconds <Int32>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies the length of the time span in seconds. The default value is 0.

-Start <DateTime>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the start of a time span. Enter a string that represents the date and time, such as "3/15/09" or a DateTime object, such as one from a Get-Date command. The default value is the current date and time.

You can use Start or its alias, LastWriteTime. The LastWriteTime alias lets you pipe objects that have a LastWriteTime property, such as files in the file system (System.Io.FileIO), to the Start parameter of New-TimeSpan .

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
System.DateTime
You can pipe a DateTime object that represents that start time to New-TimeSpan .
Outputs
System.TimeSpan
New-TimeSpan returns an object that represents the time span.
Examples
  1. Create a TimeSpan object for a specified duration:
    PS C:\> $TimeSpan = New-TimeSpan -Hour 1 -Minute 25
    

    This command creates a TimeSpan object with a duration of 1 hour and 25 minutes and stores it in a variable named $TimeSpan. It displays a representation of the TimeSpan object.

  2. Create a TimeSpan object for a time interval:
    PS C:\> new-timespan -end (get-date -year 2010 -month 1 -day 1)
    

    This example creates a new TimeSpan object that represents the interval between the time that the command is run and January 1, 2010.

    This command does not require the Start parameter, because the default value of the Start parameter is the current date and time.

  3. Get the date 90 days from the current date:
    PS C:\> $90days = New-TimeSpan -Days 90
    PS C:\> (Get-Date) + $90days
    

    These commands return the date that is 90 days after the current date.

  4. Discover the TimeSpan since a file was updated:
    PS C:\> dir $pshome\en-us\about_remote.help.txt | New-TimeSpan
    Days              : 321
    Hours             : 21
    Minutes           : 59
    Seconds           : 22
    Milliseconds      : 312
    Ticks             : 278135623127728
    TotalDays         : 321.916230471907
    TotalHours        : 7725.98953132578
    TotalMinutes      : 463559.371879547
    TotalSeconds      : 27813562.3127728
    TotalMilliseconds : 27813562312.7728 PS C:\> # Equivalent to:
    
    
    PS C:\> New-TimeSpan -Start (dir $pshome\en-us\about_remote.help.txt).lastwritetime
    

    This command tells you how long it has been since the about_remote.help.txt file was last updated. You can use this command format on any file, and on any other object that has a LastWriteTime property.

    This command works because the Start parameter of New-TimeSpan has an alias of LastWriteTime. When you pipe an object that has a LastWriteTime property to New-TimeSpan , Windows PowerShell uses the value of the LastWriteTime property as the value of the Start parameter.

Additional Notes

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands