SECOND
Returns the second component of a time value (0-59).
SECOND(serial_number)Arguments
serial_numberTime value or cell reference
=SECOND("14:30:45")Seconds from time
=SECOND(NOW())Second from current time
=SECOND(A1)Extracts second component
- •Returns 0-59
- •Often 0 for manually entered times
- •Useful for timestamp analysis
- •Applying SECOND to a date with no time component, which correctly returns 0 but can be mistaken for an error since there's technically no 'seconds' to report
- •Expecting SECOND to account for elapsed time between two values - it only extracts the seconds component of a single time value, it doesn't calculate a duration
- •Using SECOND on a text string that looks like a time instead of a genuine time value, which returns a #VALUE! error
Why does SECOND return 0 for some of my cells?
Those cells likely have no genuine time component at all, just a date at midnight, which counts as 0 seconds by definition.
Can SECOND calculate elapsed seconds between two times?
Not directly - it only extracts the seconds component of a single value. For elapsed time, subtract the two time values and format the result, or multiply the difference by 86400 to get the total in seconds.
Why does SECOND return a #VALUE! error?
The source cell is probably text that looks like a time rather than a genuine time value - try TIMEVALUE first to convert it.
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