Cookbooks
C++
Chapter 7. Dates and Times
Calculating a date in the future or past

C++:
Calculating a date in the future or past

How to:

C++20 introduced the <chrono> library upgrades, so dealing with time is less of a hassle. Here’s a quick example of adding days to the current date:

#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <format>

using namespace std::chrono;

int main() {
    // Get today's date
    auto today = floor<days>(system_clock::now());
    
    // Add 30 days to today
    auto future_date = today + days(30);
    
    // Convert to time_point to output using system_clock
    auto tp = system_clock::time_point(future_date);
    
    // Output
    std::cout << "Today's date: "
              << std::format("{:%F}\n", today);
    std::cout << "Future date (30 days later): "
              << std::format("{:%F}\n", tp);
    return 0;
}

Sample output:

Today's date: 2023-03-15
Future date (30 days later): 2023-04-14

Subtracting days works similarly—you’d just use - instead of +.

Deep Dive

Before C++20, you’d maybe use a library like Boost to manipulate dates. But the updated <chrono> simplifies it with system_clock, year_month_day, and duration types.

Historically, calculating dates was complex due to manual handling of varying month lengths, leap years, and time zones. C++20’s <chrono> addresses these by providing calendar and timezone support.

Alternatives? You could still use Boost or even handcraft your own date logic (adventurous, but why?). There’s also third-party libraries like Howard Hinnant’s “date” library, which was influential in the C++20 chrono updates.

Implementation-wise, <chrono> defines durations as compile-time rational constants, avoiding floating-point issues. Types like year_month_day rest on sys_days, which represents a time_point as days since a common epoch (1970-01-01).

See Also

Comparing two dates