Apex - Subtract minutes from DateTime Object

Question

I'd like to subtract 5 minutes from DateTime.now() May I know how I can do this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

addMinutes()

It has add in it's name but nobody says you can't pass a negative number.

DateTime dt = System.now();
DateTime earlier = dt.addMinutes(-5);
DateTime fullHour = dt.addMinutes( -dt.minute() ).addSeconds( -dt.second() );

System.debug(dt + '\t' + earlier + '\t' + fullHour);

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2014-01-11 08:40:13     2014-01-11 08:35:13     2014-01-11 08:00:00

Answer 2

Just subtract time in days (Double format) from DateTime.now() as follows:

i.e. 5 (minutes) = 5 / 1440 (days)

DateTime dt = DateTime.now() - Double.valueOf(5) / 1440;