Convert Seconds to Minutes and Seconds in JavaScript

Convert Seconds to Minutes and Seconds in JavaScript #

To convert seconds to minutes and seconds:

1. Get the number of full minutes by dividing the seconds by 60.
2. Get the remainder of the seconds.
3. Optionally, format the minutes and seconds as mm:ss.

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const totalSeconds = 565;

// 👇️ get number of full minutes
const minutes = Math.floor(totalSeconds / 60);

// 👇️ get remainder of seconds
const seconds = totalSeconds % 60;

function padTo2Digits(num) {
  return num.toString().padStart(2, '0');
}

// ✅ format as MM:SS
const result = `${padTo2Digits(minutes)}:${padTo2Digits(seconds)}`;
console.log(result); // 👉️ "09:25"

The first step is to get the number of full minutes by dividing the seconds by 60 and rounding the result down.

The Math.floor function rounds a number down if the number has a decimal, otherwise it returns the number as is.

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console.log(Math.floor(9.99)); // 👉️ 9
console.log(Math.floor(9.01)); // 👉️ 9
console.log(Math.floor(9)); // 👉️ 9

We used the modulo (%) operator to get the remainder of seconds.

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const totalSeconds = 565;

// 👇️ get remainder of seconds
const seconds = totalSeconds % 60;
console.log(seconds); // 👉️ 25

When we divide totalSeconds by 60, we get a remainder of 25 seconds.

The next step is to format the minutes and seconds as mm:ss, e.g. 05:45.

Our padTo2Digits function, takes care of adding a leading zero if the minutes or seconds only contain a single digit (are less than 10).

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function padTo2Digits(num) {
  return num.toString().padStart(2, '0');
}

console.log(padTo2Digits(1)); // 👉️ '01'
console.log(padTo2Digits(5)); // 👉️ '05'
console.log(padTo2Digits(10)); // 👉️ '10'

We want to make sure the result doesn't alternate between single and double digit values depending on the minutes and seconds.