Lex I do not see how that works. Try substituting a different value in your query. ddc1 > select (length(interval '3600' SECOND) + 1) * 60 2 from dual; (LENGTH(INTERVAL'3600'SECOND)+1)*60 ----------------------------------- 1200 -- Mark D Powell -- ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lex de Haan Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 6:15 AM To: AmihayG@xxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: Getting seconds from interval type Hi Amihay, what about using the length function? after all, that's what you want to derive -- the length of an interval. see below: SQL> select (length(interval '1200' second)+1)*60 2 from dual; (LENGTH(INTERVAL'1200'SECOND)+1)*60 ----------------------------------- 1200 as you can see, you have to adjust the length (+1) and then you multiply with 60 to get seconds. hope this helps, kind regards, Lex. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Steve Adams Seminar http://www.naturaljoin.nl/events/seminars.html <http://www.naturaljoin.nl/events/seminars.html> ------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Amihay Gonen Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 07:56 To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Getting seconds from interval type Hi, I can easily convert number from interval : select numtodsinterval(1200,'SECOND') from dual; NUMTODSINTERVAL(1200,'SECOND') ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- +000000000 00:20:00.000000000 But I've found no place where I can convert interval to number again. I've found workaround : select extract( SECOND from numtodsinterval(1200,'SECOND'))+ extract( MINUTE from numtodsinterval(1200,'SECOND'))*60+ extract( HOUR from numtodsinterval(1200,'SECOND'))*60*60+ extract( DAY from numtodsinterval(1200,'SECOND'))*60*60*24 from dual; but this is cumbersome process , I would like to see something like intervaldstonum(interval,'SECOND') .... Amihay Gonen DBA, 972-3-90021678