Re: INTERVAL MINUTE TO SECOND didn't do what I thought it would do

On 1/8/25 11:58 AM, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2025 at 2:43 PM Adrian Klaver <adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com
> <mailto:adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com>> wrote:
>

> > I'd hoped that ::INTERVAL MINUTE TO SECOND would do the trick, but
> > MINUTE TO SECOND seems to be ignored.
>
>  From here:
>
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype-datetime.html#DATATYPE-INTERVAL-INPUT <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype-datetime.html#DATATYPE-INTERVAL-INPUT>
>
> "Also, field values “to the right” of the least significant field
> allowed by the fields specification are silently discarded. For
> example,
> writing INTERVAL '1 day 2:03:04' HOUR TO MINUTE results in dropping the
> seconds field, but not the day field."
>
>
> I read that, but it did not mention that the day values are retained.

I suggest reading the entire section(8.5.4. Interval Input) as well as
8.5.5. Interval Output.

>
> >
> > Is there cast magic that does what I want?
>
> The only way I can think of extract the epoch from the interval and
> pass
> to a function that builds what you want.
>
>
> I was afraid of that.  Must decide if it's worth the time.
>
If you don't mind decimal minutes, a quick and dirty solution is:

select extract(epoch from (now() - '2025-01-07 14:15:32'::timestamptz))
/ 60;

1301.5244606333333333

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com