sql - Oracle - Best SELECT statement for getting the difference in minutes between two DateTime columns?

Question

I'm attempting to fulfill a rather difficult reporting request from a client, and I need to find away to get the difference between two DateTime columns in minutes. I've attempted to use trunc and round with various formats and can't seem to come up with a combination that makes sense. Is there an elegant way to do this? If not, is there any way to do this?

Answer 1

SELECT date1 - date2
  FROM some_table

returns a difference in days. Multiply by 24 to get a difference in hours and 24*60 to get minutes. So

SELECT (date1 - date2) * 24 * 60 difference_in_minutes
  FROM some_table

should be what you're looking for