How to Use the SECOND Function in Excel
Today, we’ll explore the SECOND function in Excel and Google Sheets. This function is designed to retrieve the ‘seconds’ component from any given time value, making it particularly useful for extracting seconds from a timestamp.
SYNTAX
The syntax for the SECOND function is identical in both Excel and Google Sheets:
SECOND(serial_number)serial_numberis the time value from which you want to extract seconds.
EXAMPLES
Let’s examine some practical examples to better understand how the SECOND function operates:
Example 1
Extracting the seconds from a timestamp:
| Timestamp | Formula | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 8/14/2029 13:27:45 | =SECOND(A2) |
45 |
| 3/21/2023 09:08:17 | =SECOND(A3) |
17 |
Example 2
Calculating the average seconds across a range of timestamps:
| Timestamp | Formula |
|---|---|
| 8/14/2029 13:27:45 | =SECOND(A2) |
| 3/21/2023 09:08:17 | =SECOND(A3) |
| 5/9/2025 21:54:30 | =SECOND(A4) |
| Average: | =AVERAGE(B2:B4) |
In this example, we first extract the seconds from each timestamp using the SECOND function and then compute the average of these values.
CONCLUSION
The SECOND function in Excel and Google Sheets is an invaluable resource when handling time values and timestamps. It simplifies the extraction of the seconds component, enabling various calculations and analyses based on this data.
More information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/second-function-740d1cfc-553c-4099-b668-80eaa24e8af1