Understanding secondsToMinutes in date-fns: Functionality and Use Cases

Import

The secondsToMinutes function isn't directly exported by date-fns. Instead, it utilizes a constant value called secondsInMinute which defines the number of seconds in a minute (typically 60). This constant is likely defined in a separate file within date-fns related to constants.

Functionality

• The function then returns the calculated number of minutes.
• It performs a floor division using the secondsInMinute constant. Floor division ensures you get the whole number of minutes, discarding any remaining seconds.
• The function takes a single argument, seconds, which represents the number of seconds you want to convert.

Example

// Convert 120 seconds into minutes
const result = secondsToMinutes(120);

console.log(result); // Output: 2

• secondsToMinutes provides a basic conversion. For more complex formatting of durations that include hours, minutes, and seconds, date-fns offers functions like intervalToDuration and formatDuration.
• This function only converts seconds to whole minutes. If you need to handle remaining seconds or convert to other units like hours, you might need additional calculations or other date-fns functions.

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Example 1: Converting with remaining seconds (manual calculation)

import { secondsToMinutes } from 'date-fns';

function convertSecondsToMinutesAndSeconds(seconds) {
  const minutes = secondsToMinutes(seconds);
  const remainingSeconds = seconds % secondsInMinute; // Modulo to get remaining seconds
  return {
    minutes,
    seconds: remainingSeconds,
  };
}

const result = convertSecondsToMinutesAndSeconds(180);
console.log(result); // Output: { minutes: 3, seconds: 0 }

Example 2: Converting with remaining seconds (using formatDuration)

import { secondsToMinutes, formatDuration } from 'date-fns';

const convertToDurationString = (seconds) => {
  const minutes = secondsToMinutes(seconds);
  const remainingSeconds = seconds % secondsInMinute;
  return formatDuration({ minutes, seconds: remainingSeconds });
};

const durationString = convertToDurationString(275);
console.log(durationString); // Output: "4 minutes 35 seconds" (format may vary)

import { secondsToMinutes, secondsToHours, format } from 'date-fns';

function convertSecondsToHoursAndMinutes(seconds) {
  const hours = secondsToHours(seconds);
  const minutes = secondsToMinutes(seconds) % 60; // Get minutes within the hour
  return format({ hours, minutes }, 'H \'hours\' m \'minutes\'');
}

const formattedTime = convertSecondsToHoursAndMinutes(7200);
console.log(formattedTime); // Output: "2 hours 0 minutes"

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Manual Calculation

The simplest alternative is manual calculation using basic division and modulo operations. This approach offers flexibility but can be less readable and error-prone for complex conversions.

function convertSecondsToMinutes(seconds) {
  const minutes = Math.floor(seconds / 60);
  return minutes;
}

Math.floor

This method utilizes the Math.floor function to achieve the same result as secondsToMinutes. It's concise but less descriptive compared to a named function.

const minutes = Math.floor(seconds / 60);

intervalToDuration (for complex formatting)

If you need more than just whole minutes and want formatted output with hours, minutes, and potentially seconds, consider intervalToDuration. It creates a Duration object that can be formatted with formatDuration.

import { intervalToDuration, formatDuration } from 'date-fns';

const duration = intervalToDuration({ start: 0, end: seconds * 1000 });
const formattedString = formatDuration(duration);

• When formatting time with hours, minutes, and seconds, intervalToDuration combined with formatDuration is a powerful alternative.
• If you need more control over calculations or prefer a different approach, manual calculation or Math.floor might be suitable.
• For basic conversion to whole minutes with clear code, secondsToMinutes remains a good choice.