freecodecamp--freecodecamp/curriculum/challenges/english/blocks/daily-coding-challenges-python/69c5f3d787b1725d5f00c8ba.md

id, title, challengeType, dashedName

id	title	challengeType	dashedName
69c5f3d787b1725d5f00c8ba	Challenge 256: Closest Time Direction	29	challenge-256

--description--

Given two times, determine whether you can get from the first to the second faster by moving forward or backward.

• Times are given in 24-hour format ("HH:MM")
• The clock wraps around (23:59 goes to 00:00 when moving forward, and 00:00 goes to 23:59 when moving backwards)

Return:

• "forward" if moving forward is shorter
• "backward" if moving backward is shorter
• "equal" if both directions take the same amount of time

--hints--

get_direction("10:00", "12:00") should return "forward".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(get_direction("10:00", "12:00"), "forward")`)
}})

get_direction("11:00", "05:00") should return "backward".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(get_direction("11:00", "05:00"), "backward")`)
}})

get_direction("00:00", "12:00") should return "equal".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(get_direction("00:00", "12:00"), "equal")`)
}})

get_direction("15:45", "01:10") should return "forward".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(get_direction("15:45", "01:10"), "forward")`)
}})

get_direction("03:30", "19:50") should return "backward".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(get_direction("03:30", "19:50"), "backward")`)
}})

get_direction("06:30", "18:30") should return "equal".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(get_direction("06:30", "18:30"), "equal")`)
}})

--seed--

--seed-contents--

def get_direction(time1, time2):

    return time1

--solutions--

def get_direction(time1, time2):
    def to_minutes(t):
        h, m = map(int, t.split(':'))
        return h * 60 + m

    start = to_minutes(time1)
    end = to_minutes(time2)
    forward = (end - start + 1440) % 1440
    backward = (start - end + 1440) % 1440

    if forward < backward:
        return 'forward'
    if backward < forward:
        return 'backward'
    return 'equal'