In MySQL caculating offset for a time zone

Question

Is there a way in MySQL to calculate the offset for any timezone? For example, to get the local time in the timezone Asia/calcutta. What I want to do is calcula

Answer 1

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(HOUR, UTC_TIMESTAMP(), NOW());

If the server's timezone is PST this will return -8.

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(SECOND, NOW(), UTC_TIMESTAMP());

Add the result of the above to any unix timestamp if you want to compare it to MySQL DateTimes.