How to use the MySQL TO_SECONDS() function

In this article, we will learn how to use the MySQL TO_SECONDS() function, which returns the number of seconds from year 0 to a given date or datetime value.

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In this article, we will learn how to use the MySQL TO_SECONDS() function, which returns the number of seconds from year 0 to a given date or datetime value. We will also see some examples of how to use this function in different situations, and explore some related functions that can be helpful for working with dates and seconds.

Syntax

The syntax of the TO_SECONDS() function is as follows:

TO_SECONDS(date)

The date parameter can be any valid date or datetime expression, or a string that can be converted to a date or datetime value. If the date parameter is NULL, the function returns NULL. The TO_SECONDS() function returns an integer value that represents the number of seconds from year 0 to the given date or datetime value. For example, TO_SECONDS('2023-01-15') returns 63830496000, which is the number of seconds from year 0 to the date ‘2023-01-15’.

Examples

Let’s see some examples of how to use the TO_SECONDS() function in MySQL.

Example 1: Get the number of seconds from year 0 to a date value

We can use the TO_SECONDS() function to get the number of seconds from year 0 to a date value. For example:

SELECT TO_SECONDS('2023-01-15') AS result;

This query will return the number of seconds from year 0 to the date value ‘2023-01-15’. The query will return 63830496000, which is the number of seconds from year 0 to the date value.

Example 2: Get the number of seconds from year 0 to a datetime value

We can use the TO_SECONDS() function to get the number of seconds from year 0 to a datetime value. For example:

SELECT TO_SECONDS('2023-01-15 10:02:34') AS result;

This query will return the number of seconds from year 0 to the datetime value ‘2023-01-15 10:02:34’. The query will return 63830509554, which is the number of seconds from year 0 to the datetime value.

Example 3: Get the number of seconds from year 0 to a string value

We can use the TO_SECONDS() function to get the number of seconds from year 0 to a string value that can be converted to a date or datetime value. For example:

SELECT TO_SECONDS('January 15, 2023') AS result;

This query will return the number of seconds from year 0 to the string value ‘January 15, 2023’ that can be converted to a date value. The query will return 63830496000, which is the same as the number of seconds from year 0 to the date value ‘2023-01-15’.

Example 4: Get the difference between two date values in seconds

We can use the TO_SECONDS() function with the TIMESTAMPDIFF() function, which returns the difference between two timestamp values, in a specified unit, to get the difference between two date values in seconds. For example:

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(SECOND, TO_SECONDS('2023-01-15'), TO_SECONDS('2023-01-16')) AS result;

This query will return the difference between the two date values ‘2023-01-15’ and ‘2023-01-16’ in seconds. The query will use the TO_SECONDS() function to convert the date values to the number of seconds from year 0, and then use the TIMESTAMPDIFF() function to get the difference between them. The query will return 86400, which is the number of seconds in one day.

Example 5: Get the difference between two datetime values in seconds

We can use the TO_SECONDS() function with the TIMESTAMPDIFF() function, which returns the difference between two timestamp values, in a specified unit, to get the difference between two datetime values in seconds. For example:

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(SECOND, TO_SECONDS('2023-01-15 10:02:34'), TO_SECONDS('2023-01-16 10:02:34')) AS result;

This query will return the difference between the two datetime values ‘2023-01-15 10:02:34’ and ‘2023-01-16 10:02:34’ in seconds. The query will use the TO_SECONDS() function to convert the datetime values to the number of seconds from year 0, and then use the TIMESTAMPDIFF() function to get the difference between them. The query will return 86400, which is the same as the number of seconds in one day.

There are some other functions that are related to the TO_SECONDS() function, and can be useful for working with dates and seconds. Here are some of them:

  • DATE(): This function returns the date part of a date or datetime value, or a string that can be converted to a date value. For example, DATE('2023-01-15 10:02:34') returns ‘2023-01-15’.
  • DATETIME(): This function returns the datetime value of a date or datetime value, or a string that can be converted to a datetime value. For example, DATETIME('2023-01-15 10:02:34') returns ‘2023-01-15 10:02:34’.
  • TIMESTAMP(): This function returns the timestamp value of a date, datetime, or timestamp value, or a string that can be converted to a timestamp value. For example, TIMESTAMP('2023-01-15 10:02:34') returns ‘2023-01-15 10:02:34’.
  • TIMESTAMPDIFF(): This function returns the difference between two timestamp values, in a specified unit. For example, TIMESTAMPDIFF(SECOND, '2023-01-15 10:02:34', '2023-01-15 10:03:34') returns 60, which is the number of seconds between the two timestamp values.
  • FROM_SECONDS(): This function returns the date or datetime value that corresponds to the number of seconds from year 0. For example, FROM_SECONDS(63830496000) returns ‘2023-01-15’, which is the date value that corresponds to the number of seconds from year 0.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to use the MySQL TO_SECONDS() function, which returns the number of seconds from year 0 to a given date or datetime value. We also saw some examples of how to use this function in different situations, and explored some related functions that can be helpful for working with dates and seconds.