Example 1: Base R Basics

Let’s start with the classic. Imagine you have a date stored as my_date <- "2024-01-31" (yes, today!). To add, say, 5 days, you can simply use my_date + 5. Voila! You’ve time-jumped to February 5th, 2024. But wait, this doesn’t handle months or leap years like a pro.

# Create a date object
date <- as.Date("2024-01-31")

# Add 5 days to the date
new_date <- date + 5

print(date)

[1] "2024-01-31"

print(new_date)

[1] "2024-02-05"

class(date)

[1] "Date"

class(new_date)

[1] "Date"

Example 2: Enter lubridate

This superhero package offers functions like as.Date() and days() that understand the nuances of dates. Let’s revisit our example:

library(lubridate)

my_date <- as.Date("2024-01-31") # Convert string to Date object
future_date <- my_date + days(5) # Add 5 days using days()

future_date # "2024-02-05"

[1] "2024-02-05"

See the magic? days(5) tells R to add 5 days specifically. You can even subtract days (imagine reliving that delicious pizza!):

pizza_day <- as.Date("2024-01-27") # Date of pizza bliss
relive_pizza <- pizza_day - days(2) # Travel back 2 days

relive_pizza # "2024-01-25"

[1] "2024-01-25"

Example 3: Beyond Days: timetk Takes the Wheel

Want to add weeks, months, or even years? timetk takes things to the next level with functions like years(), wednesdays(), and more. Check this out:

library(timetk)

graduation <- as.Date("2025-06-15") # Your graduation date (hopefully!)

graduation %+time% "1 hour 34 seconds"

[1] "2025-06-15 01:00:34 UTC"

graduation %+time% "3 months"

[1] "2025-09-15"

graduation %+time% "1 year 3 months 6 days"

[1] "2026-09-21"

# Backward (Minus Time)
graduation %-time% "1 hour 34 seconds"

[1] "2025-06-14 22:59:26 UTC"

graduation %-time% "3 months"

[1] "2025-03-15"

graduation %-time% "1 year 3 months 6 days"

[1] "2024-03-09"

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget about formatting! Use format() with options like "%Y-%m-%d" to display your dates in your preferred format.