Days between two dates in Python

Subtracting one date from another gives a timedelta, the length of time between them. Its .days attribute is the number of days.

The program

from datetime import date

first = date.fromisoformat(input("First date (YYYY-MM-DD): "))
second = date.fromisoformat(input("Second date (YYYY-MM-DD): "))

gap = abs((second - first).days)
weeks, days = divmod(gap, 7)

print(f"Days between: {gap}")
day_word = "day" if days == 1 else "days"
print(f"That is {weeks} weeks and {days} {day_word}.")

Typed in this example: 2026-10-22, 2026-12-25. Press Run to type your own.

First date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2026-10-22
Second date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2026-12-25
Days between: 64
That is 9 weeks and 1 day.

How it works

• date.fromisoformat("2026-10-22") turns text in the form year-month-day into a date object. Text that is not a real date, such as 2026-02-30, raises a ValueError.
• second - first is a timedelta. If the second date is earlier, the result is negative, so abs() makes the gap positive whichever order the dates are typed in.
• divmod(gap, 7) gives the whole weeks and the days left over in one step: divmod(64, 7) is (9, 1).
• day_word avoids printing "1 days".
• The count does not include the start day. From Monday to Tuesday is 1 day. If you need to count both the first and the last day, add 1.

To handle a typing mistake without a crash, put the fromisoformat() call in a try/except ValueError loop, as in the input validation loop.

Working days only

weekday() returns 0 for Monday up to 6 for Sunday. Step through the dates one day at a time and count the days that are not Saturday or Sunday:

from datetime import date, timedelta


def working_days(start, end):
    count = 0
    day = start
    while day < end:
        if day.weekday() < 5:
            count += 1
        day += timedelta(days=1)
    return count


start = date(2026, 10, 22)
end = date(2026, 12, 25)
print(f"Working days from {start} up to {end}: {working_days(start, end)}")

Working days from 2026-10-22 up to 2026-12-25: 46

The loop counts start but not end, in the same way as the subtraction above. Public holidays are different in every country, so they are not counted here. To skip them, keep a set of holiday dates and check day not in holidays as well.