About the seconds converter
One second (s) is the SI base unit for time. It’s fundamental in computing, networks, real-time systems, and everyday interactions.
Why it matters
Seconds are the backbone for timestamps, scheduling, and synchronization. They also bridge human-readable time and machine precision.
Typical conversions
- s → Date: get a human-readable timestamp from a UNIX-like seconds value
- s → μs / ms / min / h / d: scale time to smaller or larger units
- s → months: approximate monthly intervals (≈ 30.44 days per month)
Code snippets
Convert seconds to other units:
JavaScript
const seconds = 90;
const minutes = seconds / 60;
console.log(`${minutes} min`);Python
seconds = 90
minutes = seconds / 60
print(f"{minutes} min")PHP
$seconds = 90;
$minutes = $seconds / 60;
echo $minutes . " min";Common errors
| Issue | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Mixing up seconds and milliseconds in JS | setTimeout and setInterval expect milliseconds; using seconds leads to long delays. |
| Ignoring leap seconds | Some systems insert leap seconds; ignoring them can introduce slight timing errors in precise apps. |
FAQ
- How many seconds are in a day?
- There are 86,400 seconds in a standard day.
- How do I convert seconds to hours?
- Divide the number of seconds by 3,600.
- What is Unix time?
- The number of seconds elapsed since 1 January 1970 UTC.
- Can seconds be fractional?
- Yes, seconds can include decimals for sub-second precision.
- Why do some APIs return seconds instead of milliseconds?
- Using seconds reduces the number of digits and is sufficient for many applications.