SQL server, Converting Seconds to Minutes, Hours, Days

Question

I have a database column containing an integer value that represents a systems up time in seconds. I\'d really like a query to be able to show me that up time in a easy to r

Answer 1

I tend to use:

CAST(FLOOR(seconds / 86400) AS VARCHAR(10))+'d ' +
    CONVERT(VARCHAR(5), DATEADD(SECOND, Seconds, '19000101'), 8)

The top part just gets your days as an integer, the bottom uses SQL-Server's convert to convert a date into a varchar in the format HH:mm:ss after converting seconds into a date.

e.g.

SELECT  Formatted = CAST(FLOOR(seconds / 86400) AS VARCHAR(10))+'d ' +
                        CONVERT(VARCHAR(5), DATEADD(SECOND, Seconds, '19000101'), 8),
        Seconds
FROM    (   SELECT  TOP 10 
                    Seconds = (ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY Object_ID) * 40000)
            FROM    sys.all_Objects
            ORDER BY Object_ID
        ) S

Example on SQL Fiddle

N.B. Change CONVERT(VARCHAR(5), DATEADD(.. to CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), DATEADD(.. to keep the seconds in the result

EDIT

If you don't want seconds and need to round to the nearest minute rather than truncate you can use:

SELECT  Formatted = CAST(FLOOR(ROUND(Seconds / 60.0, 0) * 60 / 86400) AS VARCHAR(10))+'d ' +
                        CONVERT(VARCHAR(5), DATEADD(SECOND, ROUND(Seconds / 60.0, 0) * 60, '19000101'), 8),
        Seconds
FROM    (   SELECT  Seconds = 3899
        ) S

I have just replaced each reference to the column seconds with:

ROUND(Seconds / 60.0, 0) * 60

So before doing the conversion rounding your seconds value to the nearest minute