You can instantiate a TimeSpan value in a number of ways:

• By calling its implicit default constructor. This creates an object whose value is TimeSpan.Zero, as the following example shows.

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  Dim interval As New TimeSpan()
  Console.WriteLine(interval.Equals(TimeSpan.Zero))     ' Displays "True".
  
  
  

• By calling one of its explicit constructors. The following example initializes a TimeSpan value to a specified number of hours, minutes, and seconds.

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  Dim interval As New TimeSpan(2, 14, 18)
  Console.WriteLine(interval.ToString())                ' Displays "02:14:18".
  
  
  

• By calling a method or performing an operation that returns a TimeSpan value. For example, you can instantiate a TimeSpan value that represents the interval between two date and time values, as the following example shows.

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  Dim departure As DateTime = #06/12/2010 6:32PM#
  Dim arrival As DateTime = #06/13/2010 10:47PM#
  Dim travelTime As TimeSpan = arrival - departure  
  Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} = {2}", arrival, departure, travelTime)      
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '       6/13/2010 10:47:00 PM - 6/12/2010 6:32:00 PM = 1.04:15:00
  
  
  

  TimeSpan values are returned by arithmetic operators and methods of the DateTime, DateTimeOffset, and TimeSpan structures.

• By parsing the string representation of a TimeSpan value. You can use the Parse and TryParse methods to convert strings that contain time intervals to TimeSpan values. The following example uses the Parse method to convert an array of strings to TimeSpan values.

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  Dim values() As String = { "12", "31.", "5.8:32:16", "12:12:15.95", ".12"}
  For Each value As String In values
     Try
        Dim ts As TimeSpan = TimeSpan.Parse(value)
        Console.WriteLine("'{0}' --> {1}", value, ts)
     Catch e As FormatException
        Console.WriteLine("Unable to parse '{0}'", value)
     Catch e As OverflowException
        Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is outside the range of a TimeSpan.", value)
     End Try   
  Next
  ' The example displays the following output:
  '       '12' --> 12.00:00:00
  '       Unable to parse '31.'
  '       '5.8:32:16' --> 5.08:32:16
  '       '12:12:15.95' --> 12:12:15.9500000
  '       Unable to parse '.12'  
  
  
  

  In addition, you can define the precise format of the input string to be parsed and converted to a TimeSpan value by calling the ParseExact or TryParseExact method.

You can add and subtract time durations either by using the Addition and Subtraction operators, or by calling the Add and Subtract methods. You can also compare two time durations by calling the Compare, CompareTo, and Equals methods. The TimeSpan class also includes the Duration and Negate methods, which convert time intervals to positive and negative values,

The range of TimeSpan values is MinValue to MaxValue.

A TimeSpan value can be represented as [-]d.hh:mm:ss.ff, where the optional minus sign indicates a negative time interval, the d component is days, hh is hours as measured on a 24-hour clock, mm is minutes, ss is seconds, and ff is fractions of a second. That is, a time interval consists of a positive or negative number of days without a time of day, or a number of days with a time of day, or only a time of day.

Beginning with the .NET Framework version 4, the TimeSpan structure supports culture-sensitive formatting through the overloads of its ToString method, which converts a TimeSpan value to its string representation. The default TimeSpan.ToString method returns a time interval by using an invariant format that is identical to its return value in previous versions of the .NET Framework. The TimeSpan.ToString(String) overload lets you specify a format string that defines the string representation of the time interval. The TimeSpan.ToString(String, IFormatProvider) overload lets you specify a format string and the culture whose formatting conventions are used to create the string representation of the time interval. TimeSpan supports both standard and custom format strings. (For more information, see Standard TimeSpan Format Strings and Custom TimeSpan Format Strings.) However, only standard format strings are culture-sensitive.

In some cases, code that successfully formats TimeSpan values in .NET Framework 3.5 and earlier versions fails in .NET Framework 4. This is most common in code that calls a composite formatting method to format a TimeSpan value with a format string. The following example successfully formats a TimeSpan value in .NET Framework 3.5 and earlier versions, but throws an exception in .NET Framework 4 and later versions. Note that it attempts to format a TimeSpan value by using an unsupported format specifier, which is ignored in .NET Framework 3.5 and earlier versions.

Dim interval As New TimeSpan(12, 30, 45)
Dim output As String
Try
   output = String.Format("{0:r}", interval)
Catch e As FormatException
   output = "Invalid Format"
End Try
Console.WriteLine(output)
' Output from .NET Framework 3.5 and earlier versions:
'       12:30:45
' Output from .NET Framework 4:
'       Invalid Format

If you cannot modify the code, you can restore the legacy formatting of TimeSpan values in one of the following ways:

• By creating a configuration file that contains the <TimeSpan_LegacyFormatMode> element. Setting this element's enabled attribute to true restores legacy TimeSpan formatting on a per-application basis.

• By setting the "NetFx40_TimeSpanLegacyFormatMode" compatibility switch when you create an application domain. This enables legacy TimeSpan formatting on a per-application-domain basis. The following example creates an application domain that uses legacy TimeSpan formatting.

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  Module Example
     Public Sub Main()
        Dim appSetup As New AppDomainSetup()
        appSetup.SetCompatibilitySwitches( { "NetFx40_TimeSpanLegacyFormatMode" } )
        Dim legacyDomain As AppDomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain("legacyDomain", 
                                                               Nothing, appSetup)
        legacyDomain.ExecuteAssembly("ShowTimeSpan.exe")
     End Sub
  End Module
  
  
  

  When the following code executes in the new application domain, it reverts to legacy TimeSpan formatting behavior.

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  Module Example
     Public Sub Main()
        Dim interval As TimeSpan = Date.Now - Date.Now.Date
        Dim msg As String = String.Format("Elapsed Time Today: {0:d} hours.",
                                           interval)
        Console.WriteLine(msg)
     End Sub
  End Module
  ' The example displays output like the following:
  '       Elapsed Time Today: 01:40:52.2524662 hours.