MySQL convert timediff output to day, hour, minute, second format

Question

This is my query:

SELECT TIMEDIFF(end_time,start_time) AS \"total\" FROM `metrics`;

which gives me:

116:12:10

Answer 1

Try

SELECT @s:='2016-03-01' started, @e:= '2018-04-21' ended, 
FLOOR((@ms:=TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH,@s,@e))/12) yrs, (@ms%12) mns, 
@d:=TIMESTAMPDIFF(DAY,@s:=DATE_ADD(@s,INTERVAL @ms MONTH), @e) dys,
@hr:=TIMESTAMPDIFF(HOUR,@s:=DATE_ADD(@s, INTERVAL @d DAY),@e) hrs,
TIMESTAMPDIFF(MINUTE,TIMESTAMPADD(HOUR,@hr,@s),@e) mins;

This will give you a breakdown from year, month, day, hour and minutes between two dates.

Hope it assists someone.