Find the Difference Between Two Dates in R Programming - julian() Function

Last Updated : 15 Jul, 2025
In R programming, difference between two dates can be determined by using basic function julian() and passing date object as the parameter in the function. It ignores the leap-seconds.
Syntax: julian(x, origin) Parameters: x: represents date object origin: represents another date object from where difference has to be computed
Example 1: r 
# Define date objects
x <- as.Date("2020-06-18")
origin_date <- as.Date("2015-05-01")

# Difference between dates
julian(x, origin_date)
Output: 
[1] 1875
attr(, "origin")
[1] "2015-05-01"
Example 2: r 
# Define date objects
x <- as.Date("2020-06-18")
origin_date <- as.Date("1920-06-18")

# Find difference between dates
julian(x, origin_date)
Output: 
[1] 36525
attr(, "origin")
[1] "1920-06-18"
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Article Tags:
R Language
R Date-Function

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