How Can I Accurately Calculate the Month Difference Between Two Dates in MySQL?

Calculating Month Difference Between Dates in MySQL

MySQL provides a concise solution for calculating the number of months between two dates with the TIMESTAMPDIFF() function. Unlike dividing timestamps by an approximation for the number of seconds in a month, using TIMESTAMPDIFF() yields accurate results by considering variations in month lengths and leap years.

Month-Difference without Precision

To obtain the number of months elapsed between two dates without decimal precision, use the following syntax:

TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH, 'start_date', 'end_date')

This expression directly returns the number of complete months between the start and end dates.

Month-Difference with Precision

For precise month-difference calculations, including decimal values to account for partial months, employ this formula:

TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH, startdate, enddate) +
DATEDIFF(
    enddate,
    startdate + INTERVAL
      TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH, startdate, enddate)
    MONTH
  ) /
  DATEDIFF(
    startdate + INTERVAL
      TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH, startdate, enddate) + 1
    MONTH,
    startdate + INTERVAL
      TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH, startdate, enddate)
    MONTH
  )

This more complex formula calculates the difference in months with precision, returning values such as 0.7097 for a difference of 27 days between '2012-05-05' and '2012-05-27'.

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