(mysql.info) time

 
 11.3.2 The `TIME' Type
 ----------------------
 
 MySQL retrieves and displays `TIME' values in `'HH:MM:SS'' format (or
 `'HHH:MM:SS'' format for large hours values).  `TIME' values may range
 from `'-838:59:59'' to `'838:59:59''. The hours part may be so large
 because the `TIME' type can be used not only to represent a time of day
 (which must be less than 24 hours), but also elapsed time or a time
 interval between two events (which may be much greater than 24 hours,
 or even negative).
 
 You can specify `TIME' values in a variety of formats:
 
    * As a string in `'D HH:MM:SS.fraction'' format. You can also use
      one of the following `relaxed' syntaxes: `'HH:MM:SS.fraction'',
      `'HH:MM:SS'', `'HH:MM'', `'D HH:MM:SS'', `'D HH:MM'', `'D HH'', or
      `'SS''. Here `D' represents days and can have a value from 0 to
      34. Note that MySQL does not store the fraction part.
 
    * As a string with no delimiters in `'HHMMSS'' format, provided that
      it makes sense as a time. For example, `'101112'' is understood as
      `'10:11:12'', but `'109712'' is illegal (it has a nonsensical
      minute part) and becomes `'00:00:00''.
 
    * As a number in `HHMMSS' format, provided that it makes sense as a
      time. For example, `101112' is understood as `'10:11:12''. The
      following alternative formats are also understood: `SS', `MMSS',
      `HHMMSS', `HHMMSS.fraction'. Note that MySQL does not store the
      fraction part.
 
    * As the result of a function that returns a value that is
      acceptable in a `TIME' context, such as `CURRENT_TIME'.
 
 For `TIME' values specified as strings that include a time part
 delimiter, it is not necessary to specify two digits for hours,
 minutes, or seconds values that are less than `10'. `'8:3:2'' is the
 same as `'08:03:02''.
 
 Be careful about assigning abbreviated values to a `TIME' column.
 Without colons, MySQL interprets values using the assumption that the
 two rightmost digits represent seconds. (MySQL interprets `TIME' values
 as elapsed time rather than as time of day.) For example, you might
 think of `'1112'' and `1112' as meaning `'11:12:00'' (12 minutes after
 11 o'clock), but MySQL interprets them as `'00:11:12'' (11 minutes, 12
 seconds).  Similarly, `'12'' and `12' are interpreted as `'00:00:12''.
 `TIME' values with colons, by contrast, are always treated as time of
 the day. That is, `'11:12'' mean `'11:12:00'', not `'00:11:12''.
 
 By default, values that lie outside the `TIME' range but are otherwise
 legal are clipped to the closest endpoint of the range. For example,
 `'-850:00:00'' and `'850:00:00'' are converted to `'-838:59:59'' and
 `'838:59:59''. Illegal `TIME' values are converted to `'00:00:00''.
 Note that because `'00:00:00'' is itself a legal `TIME' value, there is
 no way to tell, from a value of `'00:00:00'' stored in a table, whether
 the original value was specified as `'00:00:00'' or whether it was
 illegal.
 
 For more restrictive treatment of invalid `TIME' values, enable strict
 SQL mode to cause errors to occur. See  server-sql-mode.
Info Catalog
(mysql.info) datetime
(mysql.info) date-and-time-types
(mysql.info) year
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