A helper function to split a time interval into multiple smaller periods

split-interval.R

library(tidyverse)
library(lubridate)

split_interval <- function(start, end, unit) {
  breaks <- seq(floor_date(start, unit), ceiling_date(end, unit), by = unit)
  timeline <- c(start, breaks[breaks > start & breaks < end], end)
  tibble(
    .seq   = seq_len(length(timeline) - 1),
    .start = head(timeline, -1),
    .end   = tail(timeline, -1),
  )
}

split_interval(now(), now() + hours(2), unit = "hours")
#> # A tibble: 3 x 3
#>    .seq .start              .end               
#>   <int> <dttm>              <dttm>             
#> 1     1 2019-11-09 10:25:09 2019-11-09 11:00:00
#> 2     2 2019-11-09 11:00:00 2019-11-09 12:00:00
#> 3     3 2019-11-09 12:00:00 2019-11-09 12:25:09