B4P Reference

Function Names

working days, weekend days, holidays, working day holidays, weekend holidays

Description

This function returns the number of working days / weekend days / holidays between two dates.

Function Name	Description
working days	All working days are counted. Specified holidays lying on working days will be subtracted.
weekend days	All weekend days are counted. All specified holidays are ignored.
holidays	All specified holidays are counted, regardles of day of week.
working day holidays	All specified holidays lying on working days are counted.
weekend holidays	All specified holidays lying on weekend days.

Call as: function

Parameter count

1-2

Parameters

No.	Type	Description
1 input	date or string converted to date	Start date Counting begins with this date. All days are counted in full. Any time info will be ignored, even if a late evening hour is specified.
2 input	date or string converted to date	Finish date Counting ends with this date. All days are counted in full. Any time info will be ignored, even if an early morning hour is specified. 0 is returned if the finish date lies before the start date.
Opt. 3 input	set	Week pattern This parameter defines the nature of the working days. Following rules aply: The set must contain exactly seven elements. These elements relate to the days from Monday to Sunday. The values must be between 0 and 1 0 = Not a working day (typically a weekend day) 1 = Full working day Any values between 0 and 1: Considered part time working day, e.g. applicable to employess working part time Example: { 0.5, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 } is a possible week pattern for a 50% part time employee. Note: The function holidays ignores this parameter. Note: For part time weeks, the number of 'weekend' days increases. Example: 80% pensum (4 day week) defines 3 weekend days. Default value: {1,1,1,1,1,0,0} (= full days Monday through Friday)
Opt. 4 input	set	Full-day holidays The set should contain holiday dates. The contents may be located anyhwere inside the set, even if nested and mixed with other non-date data. The dates will be extracted automatically using the same functionality as in find dates(). Holidays are subtracted in full (1 / holiday) if they lie on declared weekdays, for example Memorial Day and Easter Monday. No holidays are considered if no dates are specified. Repeated holiday dates will be ignored. Note: The function weekend days ignores this parameter. Default value: {} (empty set)
Opt. 5 input	set	Half-day holidays The set should contain holiday dates. The contents may be located anyhwere inside the set, even if nested, even if nested and mixed with other non-date data. The dates will be extracted automatically using the same functionality as in find dates(). Holidays are subtracted in half (0.5 / holiday) if they lie on declared weekdays, for example the Zürich Monday afternoon holiday Sechseläuten. No holidays are considered if no dates are specified. Repeated holiday dates, as well as dates already specified as full-day holidays, will be ignored. Note: The function weekend days ignores this parameter. Default value: {} (empt set)
Opt. 6 input	string	Options Following options apply: full: All weekdays and full-day holidays are counted in full (and half day holidays in half), regardless if the week pattern defines 1 or smaller value but not zero. partial: The counting is multiplied with the corresponding values in the week pattern in order to count part-time workdays correctly. Full-day holidays are treated the same way. For half day holidays, either 0.5 for half-day holiday or correponding week pattern is used, whichever is smaller. Default value: full

Examples



table initialize( fd holidays, // Applicable to Zürich / Switzerland

{ { fd holidays,    Dates },

  { New Year,             "2025-01-01", "2025-01-02", "next year:", "2026-01-01", "2026-01-02" },

  { Easter Weekend,       "2025-04-18", "2025-04-20", "2025-04-21", "2026-04-03", "2026-04-05", "2026-04-06"  },

  { Labor Day,            "2025-05-01", "",           "",           "2026-05-01" },

  { Pentecost Weekend,    "2025-06-08", "2025-06-09", "... and",    "2026-05-24", "2026-05-25" },

  { Ascension Day,        "2025-05-29", "",           "",           "2026-05-14" },

  { National Holiday,     "2025-08-01", "",           "",           "2026-08-01" },

  { Christmas,            "2025-12-25", "2025-12-26", "",           "2026-12-25", "2026-12-26" } } );



table initialize( hd holidays,

{ { hd holidays,     Dates },

  { Zürich City Holidays, "2025-04-28", "2025-09-15", "... and",    "2026-04-17", "2026-09-14" },

  { Year-End Holidays,    "2025-12-24", "2025-12-31", "",           "2026-12-24", "2026-12-31" } } ) ;



table list( fd holidays );

table list( hd holidays );



//          Full year     Easter weeks  City holiday  6 days        7 days        H'day on THU, Christmas   , previous year

start[] = { "2025-01-01", "2025-04-14", "2025-04-28", "2025-09-01", "2025-09-01", "2025-05-26", "2025-12-01", "2024-01-01" };

end  [] = { "2025-12-31", "2025-04-27", "2025-04-28", "2025-09-06", "2025-09-07", "2025-06-01", "2025-12-01", "2024-12-31" };



mon_thru_fri[] = { 5:1,2:0 };

mon_wed_fri[]  = { 1,0,1,0,1,0,0 };

50 pct[]       = { 5:0.5,2:0 };



// [full day holdays:,] references the entire table where the dates are extracted automatically.  All text contents are ignored.

// For simplicity, the functions below are called with vectorization to process several dates at once.



echo("Working days               : ", working days        ( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[] ) );

echo("Weekend days               : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[] ) );

echo("Weekend days (same qty)    : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("Working days minus holidays: ", working days        ( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("All holidays               : ", holidays            ( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("Holidays on working days   : ", working day holidays( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("Holidays on weekend days   : ", weekend holidays    ( start[], end[], mon_thru_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );



echo(new line, "And a part time model: Mon + Wed + Fre only: " );



echo("Working days w/o  holidays : ", working days        ( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[] ) );

echo("Weekend days               : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[] ) );

echo("Weekend days (same qty)    : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("Working days minus holidays: ", working days        ( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("All holidays               : ", holidays            ( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("Holidays on working days   : ", working day holidays( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );

echo("Holidays on weekend days   : ", weekend holidays    ( start[], end[], mon_wed_fri[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,] ) );



echo(new line, "And a part time model: Mon-Fre half days only: " );



echo("Working days w/o  holidays : ", working days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], '', '', partial ) );

echo("Weekend days               : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], '', '', partial ) );

echo("Weekend days (same qty)    : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], partial ) );

echo("Working days minus holidays: ", working days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], partial ) );

echo("All holidays               : ", holidays            ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], partial ) );

echo("Holidays on working days   : ", working day holidays( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], partial ) );

echo("Holidays on weekend days   : ", weekend holidays    ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], partial ) );



echo(new line, "And a part time model: Mon-Fre half days only, but treated as full days: " );



echo("Working days w/o  holidays : ", working days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], '', '', partial ) );

echo("Weekend days               : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], '', '', partial ) );

echo("Weekend days (same qty)    : ", weekend days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], full ) );

echo("Working days minus holidays: ", working days        ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], full ) );

echo("All holidays               : ", holidays            ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], full ) );

echo("Holidays on working days   : ", working day holidays( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], full ) );

echo("Holidays on weekend days   : ", weekend holidays    ( start[], end[], 50 pct[], [fd holidays:,], [hd holidays:,], full ) );

Output

    0 : fd holidays       | Dates      |            |            |            |            |           
    1 : New Year          | 2025-01-01 | 2025-01-02 | next year: | 2026-01-01 | 2026-01-02 |           
    2 : Easter Weekend    | 2025-04-18 | 2025-04-20 | 2025-04-21 | 2026-04-03 | 2026-04-05 | 2026-04-06
    3 : Labor Day         | 2025-05-01 |            |            | 2026-05-01 |            |           
    4 : Pentecost Weekend | 2025-06-08 | 2025-06-09 | ... and    | 2026-05-24 | 2026-05-25 |           
    5 : Ascension Day     | 2025-05-29 |            |            | 2026-05-14 |            |           
    6 : National Holiday  | 2025-08-01 |            |            | 2026-08-01 |            |           
    7 : Christmas         | 2025-12-25 | 2025-12-26 |            | 2026-12-25 | 2026-12-26 |           

    0 : hd holidays          | Dates      |            |         |            |           
    1 : Zürich City Holidays | 2025-04-28 | 2025-09-15 | ... and | 2026-04-17 | 2026-09-14
    2 : Year                 | 2025-12-24 | 2025-12-31 |         | 2026-12-24 | 2026-12-31

Working days               : {261,10,1,5,5,5,1,262}
Weekend days               : {104,4,0,1,2,2,0,104}
Weekend days (same qty)    : {104,4,0,1,2,2,0,104}
Working days minus holidays: {249,8,0.5,5,5,4,1,262}
All holidays               : {14,3,0.5,0,0,1,0,0}
Holidays on working days   : {12,2,0.5,0,0,1,0,0}
Holidays on weekend days   : {2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0}

And a part time model: Mon + Wed + Fre only: 
Working days w/o  holidays : {157,6,1,3,3,3,1,157}
Weekend days               : {208,8,0,3,4,4,0,209}
Weekend days (same qty)    : {208,8,0,3,4,4,0,209}
Working days minus holidays: {149,4,0.5,3,3,3,1,157}
All holidays               : {14,3,0.5,0,0,1,0,0}
Holidays on working days   : {8,2,0.5,0,0,0,0,0}
Holidays on weekend days   : {6,1,0,0,0,1,0,0}

And a part time model: Mon-Fre half days only: 
Working days w/o  holidays : {130.5,5,0.5,2.5,2.5,2.5,0.5,131}
Weekend days               : {234.5,9,0.5,3.5,4.5,4.5,0.5,235}
Weekend days (same qty)    : {234.5,9,0.5,3.5,4.5,4.5,0.5,235}
Working days minus holidays: {123.5,4,0,2.5,2.5,2,0.5,131}
All holidays               : {14,3,0.5,0,0,1,0,0}
Holidays on working days   : {7,1,0.5,0,0,0.5,0,0}
Holidays on weekend days   : {2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0}

And a part time model: Mon-Fre half days only, but treated as full days: 
Working days w/o  holidays : {130.5,5,0.5,2.5,2.5,2.5,0.5,131}
Weekend days               : {234.5,9,0.5,3.5,4.5,4.5,0.5,235}
Weekend days (same qty)    : {104,4,0,1,2,2,0,104}
Working days minus holidays: {249,8,0.5,5,5,4,1,262}
All holidays               : {14,3,0.5,0,0,1,0,0}
Holidays on working days   : {12,2,0.5,0,0,1,0,0}
Holidays on weekend days   : {2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0}

Try it yourself: Open LIB_Function_working_days.b4p in B4P_Examples.zip. Decompress before use.

working / wekeend days, ... holidays