To get sysdate converted in seconds since 01-JAN-1970 try this: select (SYSDATE - TO_DATE('01011970000000' , 'ddmmyyyyhh24miss')) * 86400 AS epoch_date FROM dual / Best regards, Carel-Jan Engel === If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. (Derek Bok) === On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 12:04 -0700, Anthony Ettinger wrote: > I have dates in the database as "seconds since epoch".. > > I need to select items where start_time >= epoch(sysdate - 7); > > How do I get the sysdate converting to epoch easily within the sql code? > >