Question

Using postgresql 9.1 with linux psql console and the windows pgadminIII the query:

select '2012-05-05 15:57:31-07'::timestamp with time zone - '2012-05-01 23:13:34-07'::timestamp with time zone;

renders the return as:

    ?column?     
-----------------
 3 days 16:43:57
(1 row)

However, the windows JDBC driver (specifically using jasperreport’s ireport) renders this same query as:

    ?column?     
-----------------
 0 years 0 mons 3 days 16 hours 43 mins 57.00 secs
(1 row)

I’ve explored to_char and the postgresql documentation but cannot find a solution. Two questions: First, how can I make the JDBC driver render the interval with the same formatting as pqsl?

Second, can I instead make both psql and JDBC render the result as:

88:43:57  

where hours keep counting into the 100s as the interval grows (its a silly industry standard…)

Answer 1

I made myself a function that does what I need. I’m all ears for suggestions, improvements, and optimizations.

create or replace function format_hours(started timestamp with time zone, stopped timestamp with time zone)
returns text as $$
declare
        epoch_interval integer := extract(epoch from stopped - started);
        hours integer   := floor(epoch_interval/3600);
        minutes integer := floor((epoch_interval-hours*3600)/60);
        seconds integer := floor((epoch_interval-hours*3600-minutes*60));
begin
      return hours::text || ':' ||
             to_char(minutes, 'FM00') || ':' ||
             to_char(seconds, 'FM00');
end;
$$ language plpgsql;