Compare dates
The Compare dates step compares dates in a column to another column of dates, or compares dates in a column against the current time when your Parabola flow runs. This step is similar to the DATEDIF function in Excel by creating a new column showing the measurement of time between two dates.
Input/output
The data you connect to this step needs at least one column with date information. In this example, we pass a column called "Sales Date" and compare that date against "current time". The step provides an output of a column auto-named "Difference" showing us the number of days between "Sales Date" and "current time".
Default settings
By default, this step will add a new column called "Difference" and find the number of Hours between an auto-selected column that has the word "date", auto-selects your local timezone, and subtracts current time from this date column (in the below example, this auto-selected the column "Sales Date").
Custom settings
Select which time unit measurement you'd like to perform calculations with.
If your data has a timezone different from your current location's, you can indicate that in the step.
If you have a column with dates data you'd like to perform these calculations on, you may select that instead of the default current time option.
Helpful tips
- We suggest formatting your dates either as YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss or X for this step. You can use the Format dates step to get your date values in one of these formats.
- If any of the values being compared can't be recognized as a date or date-time, then the result will be blank for that row. Otherwise the output is always a number.