# Calculate days between two LocalDate objects in Java

By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published Nov 16, 2022. Topics: Java.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-days-between-two-localdate-objects

> Learn how to use the ChronoUnit.DAYS enum to calculate days between two LocalDate objects in Java.

You can use the `ChronoUnit.DAYS` enum to calculate the days between two `LocalDate` instances in Java. It provides the `between()` method to calculate the amount of time between two temporal objects:

```java
// Create date instances
LocalDate startDate = LocalDate.parse("2022-08-30");
LocalDate endDate = LocalDate.parse("2022-11-16");

// Calculate the difference
long days = ChronoUnit.DAYS.between(startDate, endDate);

// Print days
System.out.println("Days between " + startDate + " and " + endDate + ": " + days);
// Days between 2022-08-30 and 2022-11-16: 78
```

The [`ChronoUnit`](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-new-date-time-api#chrono-units-enum) enum class was introduced in Java 8 to represent individual date and time units such as day, month, year, week, hour, minutes, etc.

The `between()` method returns the difference in days as a negative number if the start is after the end date, as shown below:

```java
System.out.println(ChronoUnit.DAYS.between(endDate, startDate)); // -78
```

You can also use the `ChronoUnit` enum to calculate the difference between two `LocalDate` objects in weeks, months, and years:

```java
System.out.println(ChronoUnit.WEEKS.between(startDate, endDate)); // 11
System.out.println(ChronoUnit.MONTHS.between(startDate, endDate)); // 2
System.out.println(ChronoUnit.YEARS.between(startDate, endDate)); // 0
```

Read [this article](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-date-difference) to learn more about calculating the difference between two dates in Java.