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.

  Visual Basic

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

  C#

  TimeSpan interval = 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.

  Visual Basic

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

  C#

  TimeSpan interval = 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.

  Visual Basic

  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
  

  C#

  DateTime departure = new DateTime(2010, 6, 12, 18, 32, 0);
  DateTime arrival = new DateTime(2010, 6, 13, 22, 47, 0);
  TimeSpan travelTime = 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.

  Visual Basic

  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'  
  

  C#

  string[] values = { "12", "31.", "5.8:32:16", "12:12:15.95", ".12"};
  foreach (string value in values)
  {
     try {
        TimeSpan ts = TimeSpan.Parse(value);
        Console.WriteLine("'{0}' --> {1}", value, ts);
     }
     catch (FormatException) {
        Console.WriteLine("Unable to parse '{0}'", value);
     }
     catch (OverflowException) {
        Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is outside the range of a TimeSpan.", value);
     }   
  }
  // 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'  
  

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. For example, the text representation of a TimeSpan object initialized to 1.0e+13 ticks is "11.13:46:40", which means 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds.