What this calculator does
This calculator answers questions like "how many hours until Wednesday" or "how many hours until Sunday" by counting forward from right now to the moment the next occurrence of a chosen weekday begins, at midnight. Pick any day of the week and it works out how far away that day currently is.
It is easy to mix this up with counting to a specific clock time later today, or to a fixed calendar date. This tool is neither of those: it always finds the next time a chosen weekday starts, which could be tomorrow, or up to a full week away if that day just started.
The formula
Work out how many days ahead the target weekday falls, using the difference between the target weekday number and today's weekday number, wrapping around a 7 day week. If the target weekday is today, the next occurrence is treated as 7 days away rather than zero, since that day has already begun. Midnight at the start of that day, minus right now, gives the hours remaining.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Target weekday | The day of the week you are counting forward to, from Sunday to Saturday. |
| Days ahead | How many calendar days from today until the next occurrence of that weekday. |
| Hours until | The gap between now and midnight at the start of that day. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Target weekday | Choose the day of the week you want a countdown to. |
When to use it
Counting down to a weekly event
Recurring events like a weekly class, meeting or bin collection fall on the same weekday every time, so a fixed countdown to "next Wednesday" is more useful than one to a single calendar date.
Planning around the working week
Knowing exactly how many hours remain until the next Monday or Friday helps frame how much of the current stretch of days is left before the week resets.
Comparing how far away different weekdays are
On any given day, some weekdays are much closer than others; running each one through shows the full spread from nearest to furthest.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
How many hours until each day of the week, from today
Every day of the week, counted forward from the same starting moment.
| Target weekday | Hours until that weekday | Days until that weekday |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 36.1 | 1 days, 12 hours |
| Monday | 60.1 | 2 days, 12 hours |
| Tuesday | 84.1 | 3 days, 12 hours |
| Wednesday | 108.1 | 4 days, 12 hours |
| Thursday | 132.1 | 5 days, 12 hours |
| Friday | 156.1 | 6 days, 12 hours |
| Saturday | 12.1 | 0 days, 12 hours |
Questions
What happens if I pick today's weekday?
The calculator treats today's weekday as already under way and counts forward to its next occurrence, roughly a week away, rather than showing zero hours.
Does this count to the start of the day or the end?
To the start: midnight at the beginning of the next occurrence of the chosen weekday. If you need a countdown to a specific time on that day rather than midnight, use the time-until calculator instead.
How is this different from the time-until calculator?
The time-until calculator counts to a specific clock time occurring today or tomorrow. This calculator counts to the next occurrence of a chosen day of the week, which can be anywhere from under a day to nearly a week away.
Why do the hours shown include a fraction?
Unless it happens to be exactly midnight right now, the gap to the start of a future day is never a whole number of hours, so the decimal portion reflects the minutes left in the current hour.
To count down to a specific time later today rather than a weekday, see the time until calculator. For a countdown to a fixed calendar date, use the countdown calculator.