使用Swift 3，根据您的需要，您可以选择以下两种方式之一来解决您的问题。

1. 向用户显示两个日期之间的差异

你可以使用DateComponentsFormatter为你的应用程序界面创建字符串。DateComponentsFormatter有一个maximumUnitCount属性，声明如下:

var maximumUnitCount: Int { get set }

使用此属性可限制结果字符串中显示的单位数量。例如，将此属性设置为2，而不是“1h 10m, 30s”，生成的字符串将是“1h 10m”。当空间受限或希望将值舍入到最近的大单位时，请使用此属性。

通过将maximumUnitCount的值设置为1，可以保证仅以一个DateComponentsFormatter的单位(年、月、日、小时或分钟)显示差异。

下面的Playground代码显示了如何显示两个日期之间的差异:

import Foundation

let oldDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: -16200)
let newDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: 0)

let dateComponentsFormatter = DateComponentsFormatter()
dateComponentsFormatter.allowedUnits = [NSCalendar.Unit.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute]
dateComponentsFormatter.maximumUnitCount = 1
dateComponentsFormatter.unitsStyle = DateComponentsFormatter.UnitsStyle.full
let timeDifference = dateComponentsFormatter.string(from: oldDate, to: newDate)

print(String(reflecting: timeDifference)) // prints Optional("5 hours")

注意，DateComponentsFormatter对结果进行四舍五入。因此，4小时和30分钟的差异将显示为5小时。

如果你需要重复这个操作，你可以重构你的代码:

import Foundation

struct Formatters {

    static let dateComponentsFormatter: DateComponentsFormatter = {
        let dateComponentsFormatter = DateComponentsFormatter()
        dateComponentsFormatter.allowedUnits = [NSCalendar.Unit.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute]
        dateComponentsFormatter.maximumUnitCount = 1
        dateComponentsFormatter.unitsStyle = DateComponentsFormatter.UnitsStyle.full
        return dateComponentsFormatter
    }()

}

extension Date {
    
    func offset(from: Date) -> String? {
        return Formatters.dateComponentsFormatter.string(from: oldDate, to: self)
    }
    
}

let oldDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: -16200)
let newDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: 0)

let timeDifference = newDate.offset(from: oldDate)
print(String(reflecting: timeDifference)) // prints Optional("5 hours")

2. 在不设置格式的情况下获取两个日期之间的差异

如果不需要将两个日期之间的差异格式化显示给用户，则可以使用Calendar。日历有一个方法dateComponents(_:from:to:)，它有以下声明:

func dateComponents(_ components: Set<Calendar.Component>, from start: Date, to end: Date) -> DateComponents

返回两个日期的差值。

下面使用dateComponents(_:from:to:)的Playground代码展示了如何通过只返回一种日历类型的差异来检索两个日期之间的差异。组件(年、月、日、小时或分钟)。

import Foundation

let oldDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: -16200)
let newDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: 0)

let descendingOrderedComponents = [Calendar.Component.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute]
let dateComponents = Calendar.current.dateComponents(Set(descendingOrderedComponents), from: oldDate, to: newDate)
let arrayOfTuples = descendingOrderedComponents.map { ($0, dateComponents.value(for: $0)) }

for (component, value) in arrayOfTuples {
    if let value = value, value > 0 {
        print(component, value) // prints hour 4
        break
    }
}

如果你需要重复这个操作，你可以重构你的代码:

import Foundation

extension Date {
    
    func offset(from: Date) -> (Calendar.Component, Int)? {
        let descendingOrderedComponents = [Calendar.Component.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute]
        let dateComponents = Calendar.current.dateComponents(Set(descendingOrderedComponents), from: from, to: self)
        let arrayOfTuples = descendingOrderedComponents.map { ($0, dateComponents.value(for: $0)) }
        
        for (component, value) in arrayOfTuples {
            if let value = value, value > 0 {
                return (component, value)
            }
        }
        
        return nil
    }

}

let oldDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: -16200)
let newDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate: 0)

if let (component, value) = newDate.offset(from: oldDate) {
    print(component, value) // prints hour 4
}

以下是我对上述Swift 3的回答。这是截至2016年11月，Xcode发布版本为8.2 Beta (8C23)。使用上述Sagar和Emin的一些建议，有时不得不让Xcode自动完成来建议语法。在这个测试版中，语法似乎真的发生了变化。我从一个DatePicker:

let calendar = NSCalendar.current as NSCalendar
let currentDate = Date()
let date1 = calendar.startOfDay(for: buyDate!)
let date2 = calendar.startOfDay(for: currentDate)      
let flags = NSCalendar.Unit.day
let components = calendar.components(flags, from: date1, to: date2)
NSLog(" day= \(components.day)")

Leo Dabus回答的一个小补充，提供复数版本，更易于人类阅读。

斯威夫特3

extension Date {
    /// Returns the amount of years from another date
    func years(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year], from: date, to: self).year ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the amount of months from another date
    func months(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.month], from: date, to: self).month ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the amount of weeks from another date
    func weeks(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.weekOfMonth], from: date, to: self).weekOfMonth ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the amount of days from another date
    func days(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.day], from: date, to: self).day ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the amount of hours from another date
    func hours(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour], from: date, to: self).hour ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the amount of minutes from another date
    func minutes(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.minute], from: date, to: self).minute ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the amount of seconds from another date
    func seconds(from date: Date) -> Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.second], from: date, to: self).second ?? 0
    }
    /// Returns the a custom time interval description from another date
    func offset(from date: Date) -> String {
        if years(from: date)   == 1 { return "\(years(from: date)) year"   } else if years(from: date)   > 1 { return "\(years(from: date)) years"   }
        if months(from: date)  == 1 { return "\(months(from: date)) month"  } else if months(from: date)  > 1 { return "\(months(from: date)) month"  }
        if weeks(from: date)   == 1 { return "\(weeks(from: date)) week"   } else if weeks(from: date)   > 1 { return "\(weeks(from: date)) weeks"   }
        if days(from: date)    == 1 { return "\(days(from: date)) day"    } else if days(from: date)    > 1 { return "\(days(from: date)) days"    }
        if hours(from: date)   == 1 { return "\(hours(from: date)) hour"   } else if hours(from: date)   > 1 { return "\(hours(from: date)) hours"   }
        if minutes(from: date) == 1 { return "\(minutes(from: date)) minute" } else if minutes(from: date) > 1 { return "\(minutes(from: date)) minutes" }
        return ""
    }
}

——>使用这个找到时间差距在两个日期在Swift(与两个字符串)。

func timeGapBetweenDates(previousDate : String,currentDate : String)
{
    let dateString1 = previousDate
    let dateString2 = currentDate

    let Dateformatter = DateFormatter()
    Dateformatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"


    let date1 = Dateformatter.date(from: dateString1)
    let date2 = Dateformatter.date(from: dateString2)


    let distanceBetweenDates: TimeInterval? = date2?.timeIntervalSince(date1!)
    let secondsInAnHour: Double = 3600
    let minsInAnHour: Double = 60
    let secondsInDays: Double = 86400
    let secondsInWeek: Double = 604800
    let secondsInMonths : Double = 2592000
    let secondsInYears : Double = 31104000

    let minBetweenDates = Int((distanceBetweenDates! / minsInAnHour))
    let hoursBetweenDates = Int((distanceBetweenDates! / secondsInAnHour))
    let daysBetweenDates = Int((distanceBetweenDates! / secondsInDays))
    let weekBetweenDates = Int((distanceBetweenDates! / secondsInWeek))
    let monthsbetweenDates = Int((distanceBetweenDates! / secondsInMonths))
    let yearbetweenDates = Int((distanceBetweenDates! / secondsInYears))
    let secbetweenDates = Int(distanceBetweenDates!)




    if yearbetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(yearbetweenDates,"years")//0 years
    }
    else if monthsbetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(monthsbetweenDates,"months")//0 months
    }
    else if weekBetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(weekBetweenDates,"weeks")//0 weeks
    }
    else if daysBetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(daysBetweenDates,"days")//5 days
    }
    else if hoursBetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(hoursBetweenDates,"hours")//120 hours
    }
    else if minBetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(minBetweenDates,"minutes")//7200 minutes
    }
    else if secbetweenDates > 0
    {
        print(secbetweenDates,"seconds")//seconds
    }
}

在Swift 2.2中

    /// Returns the amount of years from another date
func years(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components([.Year], fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).year ?? 0
}
/// Returns the amount of months from another date
func months(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components([.Month], fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).month ?? 0
}
/// Returns the amount of weeks from another date
func weeks(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components([.WeekOfYear], fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).weekOfYear ?? 0
}
/// Returns the amount of days from another date
func days(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components([.Day], fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).day ?? 0
}
/// Returns the amount of hours from another date
func hours(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components([.Hour], fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).hour ?? 0
}
/// Returns the amount of minutes from another date
func minutes(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components([.Minute], fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).minute ?? 0
}
/// Returns the amount of seconds from another date
func seconds(fromdate: NSDate) -> Int {
    return NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components(.Second, fromDate: fromdate, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).second ?? 0
}

import Foundation

extension DateComponents {

    func dateComponentsToTimeString() -> String {

        var hour = "\(self.hour!)"
        var minute = "\(self.minute!)"
        var second = "\(self.second!)"

        if self.hour! < 10 { hour = "0" + hour }
        if self.minute! < 10 { minute = "0" + minute }
        if self.second! < 10 { second = "0" + second }

        let str = "\(hour):\(minute):\(second)"
        return str
    }

}

extension Date {

    func offset(from date: Date)-> DateComponents {
        let components = Set<Calendar.Component>([.second, .minute, .hour, .day, .month, .year])
        let differenceOfDate = Calendar.current.dateComponents(components, from: date, to: self)
        return differenceOfDate
    }
}

Use:

var durationString: String {
        return self.endTime.offset(from: self.startTime).dateComponentsToTimeString()
    }