["python","datetime","numpy","pandas","int"]
Pandas: Subtracting two date columns and the result being an integer

I have two columns in a Pandas data frame that are dates. I am looking to subtract one column from another and the result being the difference in numbers of days as an integer. A peek at the data: df_test.head(10) Out[20]: First_Date Second Date 0 2016-02-09 2015-11-19 1 2016-01-06 2015-11-30 2 NaT 2015-12-04 3 2016-01-06 2015-12-08 4 NaT 2015-12-09 5 2016-01-07 2015-12-11 6 NaT 2015-12-12 7 NaT 2015-12-14 8 2016-01-06 2015-12-14 9 NaT 2015-12-15 I have created a new column successfully with the difference: df_test['Difference'] = df_test['First_Date'].sub(df_test['Second Date'], axis=0) df_test.head() Out[22]: First_Date Second Date Difference 0 2016-02-09 2015-11-19 82 days 1 2016-01-06 2015-11-30 37 days 2 NaT 2015-12-04 NaT 3 2016-01-06 2015-12-08 29 days 4 NaT 2015-12-09 NaT However I am unable to get a numeric version of the result: df_test['Difference'] = df_test[['Difference']].apply(pd.to_numeric) df_test.head() Out[25]: First_Date Second Date Difference 0 2016-02-09 2015-11-19 7.084800e+15 1 2016-01-06 2015-11-30 3.196800e+15 2 NaT 2015-12-04 NaN 3 2016-01-06 2015-12-08 2.505600e+15 4 NaT 2015-12-09 NaN
How about: df_test['Difference'] = (df_test['First_Date'] - df_test['Second Date']).dt.days This will return difference as int if there are no missing values(NaT) and float if there is. Pandas have a rich documentation on Time series / date functionality and Time deltas