Back to list MySQL How to Add Time to a Datetime Value in MySQL Database: MySQL Operators:ADDTIME() Problem: You’d like to add a certain amount of time to a datetime value in a MySQL database. Example: Our database has a table named flight_schedule with data in the columns flight, aircraft, and arrival_datetime. flightaircraftarrival_datetime EK10L12012019-04-20 15:15:00 AY12K20012019-03-31 20:10:00 LA105F2052019-08-03 11:15:00 LH30K2562019-07-01 12:47:00 For each flight, let’s get the flight code, aircraft code, and a new arrival date and time. To calculate the new_arrival_datetime, we’ll add 2 hours and 10 minutes to the current time for each arrival – that’s how much these flights have been delayed. Solution: We’ll use the ADDTIME() function. Here’s the query you would write: SELECT flight, aircraft, ADDTIME(arrival_datetime, ‘2:10’) AS new_arrival_datetime FROM flight_schedule; Here’s the result of the query: flightaircraftnew_arrival_datetime EK10L12012019-04-20 17:25:00 AY12K20012019-03-31 22:20:00 LA105F2052019-08-03 13:25:00 LH30K2562019-07-01 14:57:00 Discussion: Use the ADDTIME() function if you want to select a new datetime by adding a given time to a datetime/timestamp/time value. This function takes two arguments. The first argument is the datetime/time to which we’re adding time; this can be an expression that returns a time/datetime/timestamp value or the name of a time/datetime/timestamp column. In our example, we use the arrival_datetime column, which is of the datetime data type. The second argument is a string containing the amount of time to add to the first argument (in our example, ‘2:10’, or 2 hours and 10 minutes). You can also add fractional seconds and even days to a datetime/time value. The query below adds 3 days, 1 hour, 1 minute, 1 second and 111 fractional seconds to a date and time: SELECT ADDTIME('2019-02-05 10:12:11', '3 1:1:1.111'); It returns: 2019-02-08 11:13:12.111000 ADDTIME() returns a string with the new time. In our example, the new arrival time for flight ‘EK10’ is ‘2019-04-20 17:25:00’ – two hours and ten minutes after its original datetime of ‘2019-04-20 15:15:00’. Recommended courses: SQL Basics Standard SQL Functions SQL Practice Set Recommended articles: 18 Useful Important SQL Functions to Learn ASAP Performing Calculations on Date- and Time-Related Values How Often Employees Are Running Late for Work: SQL Datetime and Interval SQL Arithmetic See also: How to Find the Number of Days Between Two Dates in MySQL How to Add Days to a Date in MySQL How to Change Seconds to a Time Value in MySQL How to Change Datetime Formats in MySQL Tags: MySQL Subscribe to our newsletter Join our weekly newsletter to be notified about the latest posts.