Mastering MySQL TIME Data Type
Summary: in this tutorial, we will introduce you to the MySQL TIME
data type and show you useful temporal functions to manipulate time data effectively.
Introduction to MySQL TIME data type
MySQL uses the 'HH:MM:SS'
format for querying and displaying a time value that represents a time of day, which is within 24 hours. To represent a time interval between two events, MySQL uses the 'HHH:MM:SS'
format, which is larger than 24 hours.
To define a TIME
column, you use the following syntax:
column_name TIME;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
For example, the following snippet defines a column named start_at
with TIME
data type.
start_at TIME;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
A TIME
value ranges from -838:59:59
to 838:59:59
. In addition, a TIME
value can have fractional seconds part that is up to microseconds precision (6 digits). To define a column whose data type is TIME
with a fractional second precision part, you use the following syntax:
column_name TIME(N);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
N is an integer that represents the fractional part, which is up to 6 digits.
The following snippet defines a column with TIME
data type including 3 digits of fractional seconds.
begin_at TIME(3);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
A TIME
value takes 3 bytes for storage. In case a TIME
value includes fractional second precision, it will take additional bytes based on the number of digits of the fractional second precision. The following table illustrates the storage required for fractional second precision.
Fractional Second Precision | Storage (BYTES) |
0 | 0 |
1, 2 | 1 |
3, 4 | 2 |
5, 6 | 3 |
For example, TIME
and TIME(0)
takes 3 bytes. TIME(1)
and TIME(2)
takes 4 bytes (3 + 1); TIME(3)
and TIME(6)
take 5 and 6 bytes.
MySQL TIME data type example
Let’s take a look at an example of using the TIME
data type for columns in a table.
First, create a new table named tests
that consists of four columns: id
, name
, start_at
, and end_at
. The data types of the start_at
and end_at
columns are TIME
.
CREATE TABLE tests (
id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
start_at TIME,
end_at TIME
);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Second, insert a row into the tests
table.
INSERT INTO tests(name,start_at,end_at)
VALUES('Test 1', '08:00:00','10:00:00');
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Third, query data from the tests
table.
SELECT
name, start_at, end_at
FROM
tests;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Notice that we use 'HH:MM:SS'
as the literal time value in the INSERT
statement. Let’s examine all the valid time literals that MySQL can recognize.
MySQL TIME literals
MySQL recognizes various time formats besides the 'HH:MM:SS'
format that we mentioned earlier.
MySQL allows you to use the 'HHMMSS'
format without delimiter ( : ) to represent time value. For example, '08:30:00'
and '10:15:00'
can be rewritten as '083000'
and '101500'
.
INSERT INTO tests(name,start_at,end_at)
VALUES('Test 2','083000','101500');
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
However, 108000
is not a valid time value because 80
does not represent the correct minute. In this case, MySQL will raise an error if you try to insert an invalid time value into a table.
INSERT INTO tests(name,start_at,end_at)
VALUES('Test invalid','083000','108000');
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
MySQL issued the following error message after executing the above statement.
Error Code: 1292. Incorrect time value: '108000' for column 'end_at' at row 1
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
In addition to the string format, MySQL accepts the HHMMSS
as a number that represents a time value. You can also use SS
, MMSS
. For example, instead of using '082000'
, you can use 082000
as follows:
INSERT INTO tests(name,start_at,end_at)
VALUES('Test 3',082000,102000);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
For the time interval, you can use the 'D HH:MM:SS'
format where D
represents days with a range from 0 to 34. A more flexible syntax is 'HH:MM'
, 'D HH:MM'
, 'D HH'
, or 'SS'
.
If you use the delimiter:, you can use 1 digit to represent hours, minutes, or seconds. For example, 9:5:0
can be used instead of '09:05:00'
.
INSERT INTO tests(name,start_at,end_at)
VALUES('Test 4','9:5:0',100500);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Useful MySQL TIME functions
MySQL provides several useful temporal functions for manipulating TIME
data.
Getting to know the current time
To get the current time of the database server, you use the CURRENT_TIME
function. The CURRENT_TIME
function returns the current time value as a string ( 'HH:MM:SS'
) or a numeric value ( HHMMSS
) depending on the context where the function is used.
The following statements illustrate the CURRENT_TIME
function in both string and numeric contexts:
SELECT
CURRENT_TIME() AS string_now,
CURRENT_TIME() + 0 AS numeric_now;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Adding and Subtracting time from a TIME value
To add a TIME
value to another TIME
value, you use the ADDTIME
function. To subtract a TIME
value from another TIME
value, you use the SUBTIME
function.
The following statement adds and subtracts 2 hours 30 minutes to and from the current time.
SELECT
CURRENT_TIME(),
ADDTIME(CURRENT_TIME(), 023000),
SUBTIME(CURRENT_TIME(), 023000);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
In addition, you can use the TIMEDIFF()
function to get a difference between two TIME
values.
SELECT
TIMEDIFF(end_at, start_at)
FROM
tests;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Formatting MySQL TIME values
Although MySQL uses 'HH:MM:SS'
when retrieving and displaying the a TIME
value, you can display the TIME
value in your preferred way using the TIME_FORMAT
function.
The TIME_FORMAT
function is like the DATE_FORMAT
function except that the TIME_FORMAT
function is used to format a TIME
value only.
See the following example.
SELECT
name,
TIME_FORMAT(start_at, '%h:%i %p') start_at,
TIME_FORMAT(end_at, '%h:%i %p') end_at
FROM
tests;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
In the time format string above:
-
%h
means two-digit hours from 0 to 12. -
%i
means two-digit minutes from 0 to 60. -
%p
means AM or PM.
Extracting hour, minute, and second from a TIME value
To extract the hour, minute, and second from a TIME
value, you use HOUR
, MINUTE
, and SECOND
functions as follows:
Getting UTC time value
To get the UTC time, you use UTC_TIME
function as follows:
SELECT
CURRENT_TIME(),
UTC_TIME();
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
In this tutorial, we have been covered a lot about MySQL TIME
data type and some commonly used temporal functions for manipulating TIME
values.