$query = "select unix_timestamp(now())- unix_timestamp(timestamp) from test; $query1= $dbh->prepare($query); $query1->execute(); while(@row_time = $query1->fetchrow_array()){ $old_time=$row_time[0]; } $tt= localtime($old_time); $quer= $dbh->do("insert into test1 values(" . $tt .")"); print "$quer"; $dbh->disconnect; exit(0);