# Date field manipulation

**URL:** <https://community.triggre.com/t/date-field-manipulation/446>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [August 13, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://community.triggre.com/t/date-field-manipulation/446 "2023-08-13T12:17:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![stanley.dikeocha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@stanley.dikeocha](https://community.triggre.com/u/stanley.dikeocha)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://community.triggre.com/t/date-field-manipulation/446/1 "2023-08-13T12:17:15Z")

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Hello,

I was wondering what is the best way to achieve this usecase - calculating the difference between two dates stored in a table, and storing the outcome in another field within the same table.

E.G

- From: 01/01/2001
- To Date: 04/04/2001
- number of days in between (a number field type)

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**Author:** ![Jesse](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.triggre.com/jesse/32/88_2.png) [@Jesse](https://community.triggre.com/u/Jesse)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://community.triggre.com/t/date-field-manipulation/446/2 "2023-08-13T15:23:55Z")

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Hi @stanley.dikeocha,  
You can do this in a single calculation:

(_End date_ - _Start date_) / 1 days

In this calculation you first subtract the start from the end date, which gives you a _Duration_ of the number of days.

To then get a number, you simply divide the result by a _Specific value_ of type _Duration_, and give it the value of a single day.

After you have this calculation, you can store the result in a number field.

Hope this helps!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stanley.dikeocha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@stanley.dikeocha](https://community.triggre.com/u/stanley.dikeocha)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://community.triggre.com/t/date-field-manipulation/446/3 "2023-08-14T11:29:15Z")

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@Jesse thanks for the quick response. I have tried your suggestion and it worked.

The only thing I want to check is if I need some sort of “looping action” in this use case. I ask because i have a table that stores up to 12 lines items of the different dates (End date and start date).

By executing your suggestion without the looping, would the flow part be smart enough to run through the list of (end and start date), calculating the number of days in between them?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jesse](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.triggre.com/jesse/32/88_2.png) [@Jesse](https://community.triggre.com/u/Jesse)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.triggre.com/t/date-field-manipulation/446/4 "2023-08-14T13:08:08Z")

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Hi @stanley.dikeocha,

Good to hear that the solution works. At least partly 😉

As for the 12 items, it depends on your case. If all 12 have the same dates, you can simply use a lookup to find all items you want to edit and use a single edit action.

However, I presume each item has different dates and thus a different number of days as a result. In that case you’d need to use a _repeat action_ indeed and perform the calculation and then the edit action inside the repeat.

Usually, I try to minimize such situations by immediately performing the calculation when the item is created. I would make a flow part that handles exactly this calculation and updates the item, and place it anywhere that I create or update the item, right after the flow part that creates/updates the item.

Hope this helps!