DateTime.Ticks Property

Definition

Namespace:

System

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Source:

DateTime.cs

Gets the number of ticks that represent the date and time of this instance.

public:
 property long Ticks { long get(); };

public long Ticks { get; }

member this.Ticks : int64

Public ReadOnly Property Ticks As Long

Property Value

Int64

The number of ticks that represent the date and time of this instance. The value is between DateTime.MinValue.Ticks and DateTime.MaxValue.Ticks.

Examples

The following example uses the Ticks property to display the number of ticks that have elapsed since the beginning of the twenty-first century and to instantiate a TimeSpan object. The TimeSpan object is then used to display the elapsed time using several other time intervals.

DateTime centuryBegin = new DateTime(2001, 1, 1);
DateTime currentDate = DateTime.Now;

long elapsedTicks = currentDate.Ticks - centuryBegin.Ticks;
TimeSpan elapsedSpan = new TimeSpan(elapsedTicks);

Console.WriteLine("Elapsed from the beginning of the century to {0:f}:",
                   currentDate);
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N0} nanoseconds", elapsedTicks * 100);
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N0} ticks", elapsedTicks);
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N2} seconds", elapsedSpan.TotalSeconds);
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N2} minutes", elapsedSpan.TotalMinutes);
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N0} days, {1} hours, {2} minutes, {3} seconds",
                  elapsedSpan.Days, elapsedSpan.Hours,
                  elapsedSpan.Minutes, elapsedSpan.Seconds);

// This example displays an output similar to the following:
//
// Elapsed from the beginning of the century to Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:21:
//    595,448,498,171,000,000 nanoseconds
//    5,954,484,981,710,000 ticks
//    595,448,498.17 seconds
//    9,924,141.64 minutes
//    6,891 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 38 seconds

open System

let centuryBegin = DateTime(2001, 1, 1)
let currentDate = DateTime.Now

let elapsedTicks = currentDate.Ticks - centuryBegin.Ticks
let elapsedSpan = TimeSpan elapsedTicks

printfn $"Elapsed from the beginning of the century to {currentDate:f}:"
printfn $"   {elapsedTicks * 100L:N0} nanoseconds"
printfn $"   {elapsedTicks:N0} ticks"
printfn $"   {elapsedSpan.TotalSeconds:N2} seconds"
printfn $"   {elapsedSpan.TotalMinutes:N2} minutes"
printfn $"   {elapsedSpan.Days:N0} days, {elapsedSpan.Hours} hours, {elapsedSpan.Minutes} minutes, {elapsedSpan.Seconds} seconds"

// This example displays an output similar to the following:
//
// Elapsed from the beginning of the century to Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:21:
//    595,448,498,171,000,000 nanoseconds
//    5,954,484,981,710,000 ticks
//    595,448,498.17 seconds
//    9,924,141.64 minutes
//    6,891 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 38 seconds

Dim centuryBegin As Date = #1/1/2001 0:0:0#
Dim currentDate As Date = Date.Now
Dim elapsedTicks As Long = currentDate.Ticks - centuryBegin.Ticks
Dim elapsedSpan As New TimeSpan(elapsedTicks)

Console.WriteLine("Elapsed from the beginning of the century to {0:f}:", _
                   currentDate)
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N0} nanoseconds", elapsedTicks * 100)
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N0} ticks", elapsedTicks)
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N2} seconds", elapsedSpan.TotalSeconds)
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N2} minutes", elapsedSpan.TotalMinutes)
Console.WriteLine("   {0:N0} days, {1} hours, {2} minutes, {3} seconds", _
                  elapsedSpan.Days, elapsedSpan.Hours, _
                  elapsedSpan.Minutes, elapsedSpan.Seconds)
' If run on December 14, 2007, at 15:23, this example displays the
' following output to the console:
'          219,338,580,000,000,000 nanoseconds
'          2,193,385,800,000,000 ticks
'          219,338,580.00 seconds
'          3,655,643.00 minutes
'          2,538 days, 15 hours, 23 minutes, 0 seconds

Remarks

A single tick represents one hundred nanoseconds or one ten-millionth of a second. There are 10,000 ticks in a millisecond (see TicksPerMillisecond) and 10 million ticks in a second.

The value of this property represents the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have elapsed since 12:00:00 midnight, January 1, 0001 in the Gregorian calendar, which represents MinValue. It does not include the number of ticks that are attributable to leap seconds. If the DateTime object has its Kind property set to Local, its ticks represent the time elapsed time since 12:00:00 midnight, January 1, 0001 in the local time as specified by the current time zone setting. If the DateTime object has its Kind property set to Utc, its ticks represent the time elapsed time since 12:00:00 midnight, January 1, 0001 in the Coordinated Universal Time. If the DateTime object has its Kind property set to Unspecified, its ticks represent the time elapsed time since 12:00:00 midnight, January 1, 0001 in the unknown time zone.

In general, the ticks represent the time according to the time zone specified by the Kind property.