php - mysql timediff to hours

Question

I'm Trying to get the timediff from my table and convert it to hours (it's for an hourly billed service)

SELECT TIME_TO_SEC(TIMEDIFF(endDate,startDate))/3600 FROM tasks >

where endDate and startDate are in datetime format

is there another way (more efficient) to do this task? Thanks !

Answer 1

TIMEDIFF(endDate, startDate) outputs in DateTime format, so flat that to timestamp and devide by (60*60)

SELECT (UNIX_TIMESTAMP(TIMEDIFF(endDate, startDate))/(60*60)) AS hours_difference
FROM tasks

Edit: Alternatively,TimestampDiff may also provide a valid solution in more elegant way providing its example:

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH,'2003-02-01','2003-05-01');

And your solution can be:

SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(HOUR, startDate, endDate) AS hours_different
FROM tasks