How to Add / Subtract Days, Months or Years from a Date in C++

In this article we will discuss how to add or subtract days, months & Years from a date object.

Add / Subtract Days from a Date

For example, if current date is 21 March 2016. Then subtracting 100 days from this date will make the date 12 Dec 2015

For this we will use type boost::gregorian::days to represent days i.e.

// Initialize days object with 10 days
boost::gregorian::days daysObj(100);

Now we can add or subtract this days object from the date object. So, lets subtract 10 days from a Date object i.e.

// Initializing Date object with 21st March 2016
boost::gregorian::date dateObj { 2016, 3, 21 };

// Subtract 10 days from date object
dateObj = dateObj - daysObj;

It will make the date to point to 12 Dec 2015.

Add / Subtract Months from a Date

Adding 2 months to date 12 Dec 2015 will make the date 12 Feb 2016

For this we will use type boost::gregorian::months to represent days i.e.

// Initialize days object with 2 Months
boost::gregorian::months monthObj(2);

Now we can add or subtract this from the date object. So, lets add 2 months in the date object i.e.

// Add 2 Months in date object
boost::gregorian::date dateObj2 = dateObj + monthObj;

It will make the date to point to 12 Feb 2016.

Add / Subtract Years from a Date

Subtracting 3 Years to date 12 Feb 2016 will make the date 12 Feb 2013

For this we will use type boost::gregorian::years to represent days i.e.

// Initialize days object with 3 Years
boost::gregorian::years yearsObj(3);

Now we can add or subtract this from the date object. So, lets subtract 2 months in the date object i.e.

// Subtract 3 Years from date object
boost::gregorian::date dateObj2 = dateObj - yearsObj;

It will make the date to point to 12 Feb 2013.

Complete Example

Let’s see the complete example,

#include <boost/date_time/gregorian/gregorian.hpp>
#include <iostream>

int main() {

	// Initializing Date object with 21st March 2016
	boost::gregorian::date dateObj { 2016, 3, 21 };

	// Printing complete Date object on console
	std::cout << "Initial Date = " << dateObj << '\n';

	// Initialize days object with 10 days
	boost::gregorian::days daysObj(100);

	// Subtract 10 days from date object
	dateObj = dateObj - daysObj;

	// Printing complete Date object on console
	std::cout << "Date After Subtracting " << daysObj << " days = " << dateObj<< '\n';

	// Initialize days object with 2 Months
	boost::gregorian::months monthObj(2);

	// Add 2 Months in date object
	dateObj = dateObj + monthObj;

	// Printing complete Date object on console
	std::cout << "Date After Adding " << monthObj.number_of_months()
			<< " Months = " << dateObj << '\n';

	// Initialize days object with 3 Years
	boost::gregorian::years yearsObj(3);

	// Subtract 3 Years from date object
	dateObj = dateObj - yearsObj;

	// Printing complete Date object on console
	std::cout << "Date After Subtracting " << yearsObj.number_of_years()
			<< " Years = " << dateObj << '\n';

}

Output:

Initial Date = 2016-Mar-21
Date After Subtracting 100 days = 2015-Dec-12
Date After Adding 2 Months = 2016-Feb-12
Date After Subtracting 3 Years = 2013-Feb-12

To compile this example use following command in linux,

g++ –std=c++11 example.cpp -lboost_date_time