Difference between two times

What it's for

From 22:30 to 6:15, how many hours is that? It's the question of night shifts, journeys, sleep, an event that ends late. Here you type the start and end times and out comes the duration in hours and minutes, with the total in minutes as well, which is what you need when that figure goes into a sheet or gets multiplied by a rate.

Midnight is already handled

If the end time is smaller than the start time, it means midnight has been crossed, and the duration is worked out accordingly: from 22:30 to 6:15 is 7 hours and 45 minutes, not a negative number. That's the main reason the sum goes wrong in your head, and the reason this page exists.

The flip side is that a duration of more than twenty-four hours can't be expressed here: two times on their own don't say how many days have passed. If that's what you need, the question is a different one and the right page is Difference between dates.

The day the clocks change

Twice a year a day doesn't last twenty-four hours: the last Sunday in March has twenty-three and the one in October has twenty-five. On those two nights a shift «from 22 to 6» really lasts an hour less or an hour more than the sum says, because the times are known here but the date isn't. It affects only a few shifts a year, but those shifts get paid, so it's worth knowing.

Nearby tools

To add several durations together there is Add hours and minutes; for a shift's hours with the break taken off Working hours calculator. If the two times are in different zones the page is World clock, and for the exact date the clocks change Daylight saving change.