Python program to convert seconds into hours, minutes and seconds

Given an integer n (in seconds), convert it into hours, minutes and seconds. 

Examples:

Input : 12345
Output : 3:25:45

Input : 3600
Output : 1:00:00

Let's look at different ways of doing it in Python.

1. Naive Approach

This approach uses simple mathematical calculations to get the hours, minutes, and seconds.

def convert(seconds):
    seconds = seconds % (24 * 3600)
    hour = seconds // 3600
    seconds %= 3600
    minutes = seconds // 60
    seconds %= 60
    
    return "%d:%02d:%02d" % (hour, minutes, seconds)

# Driver program
n = 12345
print(convert(n))

3:25:45

Explanation:

• seconds % (24 * 3600) ensures that seconds fit within a 24-hour range.
• seconds // 3600 calculates how many hours are in the given seconds.
• seconds % 3600 calculates the remaining seconds after extracting hours.
• seconds // 60 calculates how many minutes are in the remaining seconds.
• seconds % 60 gives the remaining seconds after extracting minutes.

2. Using divmod()

Using the divmod() function allows for a more efficient solution by performing the division and modulus operations in one step.

def convert(seconds):
    min, sec = divmod(seconds, 60)
    hour, min = divmod(min, 60)
    return '%d:%02d:%02d' % (hour, min, sec)
    
# Driver program
n = 12345
print(convert(n))

3:25:45

Explanation:

• divmod(seconds, 60) returns a tuple containing minutes and remaining seconds.
• divmod(min, 60) returns a tuple containing hours and remaining minutes.
• The result is formatted as 'hours:minutes:seconds' using string formatting

3. Using timedelta (from datetime module)

The datetime module provides a timedelta object which can represent durations, making it easy to convert seconds into a human-readable format. 

import datetime

def convert(n):
    return str(datetime.timedelta(seconds = n))
    
# Driver program
n = 12345
print(convert(n))

3:25:45

Explanation: timedelta(seconds=n) function automatically converts the given seconds into the format hours:minutes:seconds.

4. Using time.strftime()

The time.strftime() function gives more control over formatting, and time.gmtime() is used to convert seconds into a special tuple format that strftime() accepts.

import time

def convert(seconds):
    return time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", time.gmtime(seconds))

# Driver program
n = 12345
print(convert(n))

03:25:45

Explanation:

• time.gmtime(seconds) converts the seconds into a tuple representing the time in GMT.
• time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", time.gmtime(seconds)) formats the tuple into hours:minutes:seconds.

5. Using dateutil.relativedelta()

The dateutil library provides a convenient way to convert seconds into hours, minutes, and seconds using the relativedelta function.

We need to first install the dateutil library using command:

pip install python-dateutil

The dateutil library provides a convenient way to convert seconds into hours, minutes, and seconds using the relativedelta function. Here is an example of how this can be done:

from dateutil import relativedelta

def convert(n):
    rd = relativedelta.relativedelta(seconds=n)
    return "{}:{:02d}:{:02d}".format(rd.hours, rd.minutes, rd.seconds)

# Driver program
n = 12345
print(convert(n))
#This code is contributed by Edula Vinay Kumar Reddy

3:25:45

Explanation:

• relativedelta(seconds=n) calculates the duration of n seconds and returns it as a relativedelta object.
• The hours, minutes, and seconds attributes are then extracted and formatted as hours:minutes:seconds.

6. Using a Dictionary for Calculations

This approach uses a dictionary to store the number of seconds in each unit of time (hours, minutes, seconds). It iterates over the dictionary, calculating the number of each unit and formatting the result.

def convert_seconds(seconds):
    units = {"hours": 3600, "minutes": 60, "seconds": 1}
    values = []
    for unit, value in units.items():
        count = seconds // value
        seconds -= count * value
        values.append(count)
    return f"{values[0]:02d}:{values[1]:02d}:{values[2]:02d}"

# Driver program
seconds = 12345
print(convert_seconds(seconds))

03:25:45

Explanation:

• "units" dictionary maps time units to their equivalent values in seconds.
• code iterates over this dictionary to calculate hours, minutes, and seconds, storing them in the values list.
• The result is formatted into hh:mm:ss format and returned.

Related articles:

• Python datetime module
• map()
• lambda