---
title: duration() function
description: duration() converts a value to a duration type.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/duration/
estimated_tokens: 1400
product: Flux
version: v0
---

# duration() function

-   Flux 0.7.0+
-   View InfluxDB support

`duration()` converts a value to a duration type.

`duration()` treats integers and unsigned integers as nanoseconds. For a string to be converted to a duration type, the string must use duration literal representation.

##### Function type signature

```js
(v: A) => duration
```

For more information, see [Function type signatures](/flux/v0/function-type-signatures/).

## Parameters

### v

(Required) Value to convert.

## Examples

-   [Convert a string to a duration](#convert-a-string-to-a-duration)
-   [Convert numeric types to durations](#convert-numeric-types-to-durations)
-   [Convert values in a column to durations](#convert-values-in-a-column-to-durations)

### Convert a string to a duration

```js
duration(v: "1h20m")// Returns 1h20m

```

### Convert numeric types to durations

```js
duration(v: 4800000000000)

// Returns 1h20m
duration(v: uint(v: 9600000000000))// Returns 2h40m

```

### Convert values in a column to durations

Flux does not support duration column types. To store durations in a column, convert duration types to strings.

```js
data
    |> map(fn: (r) => ({r with _value: string(v: duration(v: r._value))}))
```

[](#view-example-input-and-output)

View example input and output

#### Input data

| _time | tag | _value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2022-01-01T05:00:00Z | t1 | -27000000 |
| 2022-01-01T09:00:10Z | t1 | 12000000 |
| 2022-01-01T11:00:20Z | t1 | 78000000 |
| 2022-01-01T16:00:30Z | t1 | 17000000 |
| 2022-01-01T19:00:40Z | t1 | 15000000 |
| 2022-01-01T20:00:50Z | t1 | -42000000 |

#### Output data

| _time | _value | tag |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2022-01-01T05:00:00Z | -27ms | t1 |
| 2022-01-01T09:00:10Z | 12ms | t1 |
| 2022-01-01T11:00:20Z | 78ms | t1 |
| 2022-01-01T16:00:30Z | 17ms | t1 |
| 2022-01-01T19:00:40Z | 15ms | t1 |
| 2022-01-01T20:00:50Z | -42ms | t1 |

#### Related

-   [Work with durations](/flux/v0/data-types/basic/duration/)

[type-conversions](/flux/v0/tags/type-conversions/)