Code that does what was requested, with examples, and showing how cases he didn't specify are handled:
def format_seconds_to_hhmmss(seconds):
hours = seconds // (60*60)
seconds %= (60*60)
minutes = seconds // 60
seconds %= 60
return "%02i:%02i:%02i" % (hours, minutes, seconds)
def format_seconds_to_mmss(seconds):
minutes = seconds // 60
seconds %= 60
return "%02i:%02i" % (minutes, seconds)
minutes = 60
hours = 60*60
assert format_seconds_to_mmss(7*minutes + 30) == "07:30"
assert format_seconds_to_mmss(15*minutes + 30) == "15:30"
assert format_seconds_to_mmss(1000*minutes + 30) == "1000:30"
assert format_seconds_to_hhmmss(2*hours + 15*minutes + 30) == "02:15:30"
assert format_seconds_to_hhmmss(11*hours + 15*minutes + 30) == "11:15:30"
assert format_seconds_to_hhmmss(99*hours + 15*minutes + 30) == "99:15:30"
assert format_seconds_to_hhmmss(500*hours + 15*minutes + 30) == "500:15:30"
You can--and probably should--store this as a timedelta rather than an int, but that's a separate issue and timedelta doesn't actually make this particular task any easier.
