Overlapping Dates formula
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(StartA <= EndB) and (EndA >= StartB) | |
Proof: | |
Let ConditionA Mean that DateRange A Completely After DateRange B | |
_ |---- DateRange A ------| | |
|---Date Range B -----| _ | |
(True if StartA > EndB) | |
Let ConditionB Mean that DateRange A is Completely Before DateRange B | |
|---- DateRange A -----| _ | |
_ |---Date Range B ----| | |
(True if EndA < StartB) | |
Then Overlap exists if Neither A Nor B is true - | |
(If one range is neither completely after the other, | |
nor completely before the other, then they must overlap.) | |
Now one of De Morgan's laws says that: | |
Not (A Or B) <=> Not A And Not B | |
Which translates to: (StartA <= EndB) and (EndA >= StartB) | |
NOTE: This includes conditions where the edges overlap exactly. If you wish to exclude that, | |
change the >= operators to >, and <= to < | |
NOTE2. Thanks to @Baodad, see this blog, the actual overlap is least of: | |
{ endA-startA, endA - startB, endB-startA, endB - startB } | |
(StartA <= EndB) and (EndA >= StartB) (StartA <= EndB) and (StartB <= EndA) | |
NOTE3. Thanks to @tomosius, a shorter version reads: | |
DateRangesOverlap = max(start1, start2) < min(end1, end2) | |
This is actually a syntactical shortcut for what is a longer implementation, which includes extra checks to verify that the start dates are on or before the endDates. Deriving this from above: | |
If start and end dates can be out of order, i.e., if it is possible that startA > endA or startB > endB, then you also have to check that they are in order, so that means you have to add two additional validity rules: | |
(StartA <= EndB) and (StartB <= EndA) and (StartA <= EndA) and (StartB <= EndB) or: | |
(StartA <= EndB) and (StartA <= EndA) and (StartB <= EndA) and (StartB <= EndB) or, | |
(StartA <= Min(EndA, EndB) and (StartB <= Min(EndA, EndB)) or: | |
(Max(StartA, StartB) <= Min(EndA, EndB) | |
But to implement Min() and Max(), you have to code, (using C ternary for terseness),: | |
(StartA > StartB? Start A: StartB) <= (EndA < EndB? EndA: EndB) |
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