MySQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

SEC_TO_TIME()

Synopsis

SEC_TO_TIME(seconds)

This function returns the period for a given number of seconds in the format hh:mm:ss. It will return the time in hhmmss format if it’s used as part of a numeric calculation. Here is an example:

SELECT SEC_TO_TIME(3600) AS 'Time Format',
SEC_TO_TIME(3600) + 0 AS 'Numeric Format';

+-------------+----------------+
| Time Format | Numeric Format |
+-------------+----------------+
| 01:00:00    |   10000.000000 | 
+-------------+----------------+

We’ve given a value of 3,600 seconds, which the function formats to show as 1 hour in the first field. The next field shows the same results, but in numeric format and with microseconds included. If the number of seconds exceeds 86,400, or 1 day’s worth, the value for hours will result in an amount greater than 23 and will not be reset back to 0.