How can I format a MySQL TIMEDIFF without seconds?

Question

I'm running this SELECT statement:

TIMEDIFF(NOW(), posts.date_modified) as time_ago

And getting results in the format 02:58:32. The last set of digits, :32, are the number of seconds.

How can I omit the seconds?

Answer 1

SELECT TIME_FORMAT(TIMEDIFF(NOW(), posts.date_modified), '%H:%i') AS time_ago

Consult the manual for more on TIME_FORMAT() and a table of allowed specifiers.