MySQL - difference between two datetimes

In this article, we would like to show you how to calculate the difference between two datetimes in MySQL.

Quick solution:

-- SELECT TIMEDIFF('to_time','from_time');
SELECT TIMEDIFF('YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS','YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS');

Where:

• YYYY - four-digit year format, e.g. 2021,
• MM - month number (counted from 01 to 12),
• DD - day number (from 01 to 31 - depending on month),
• HH - hour number (from 00 to 24),
• MM - minute number (from 00 to 59),
• SS - second number (from 00 to 59).

Practical example

In this example, we will calculate the difference between two datetimes using TIMEDIFF() function.

Query:

SELECT TIMEDIFF('2021-01-09 09:00:00','2021-01-08 08:00:00') AS 'time difference';

Result:

Note:

If you only want to calculate the difference between days (dates), go to this article.

Related posts

• MySQL - difference between two dates

• MySQL - difference between two times