use strict; my $start = '12:34:26'; my $end = '14:48:52'; my @start = split(/:/, $start); my @end = split(/:/, $end); $start = 60 * 60 * $start[0] + 60 * $start[1] + $start[2]; $end = 60 * 60 * $end[0] + 60 * $end[1] + $end[2]; my $elapsed = $end - $start; print $elapsed;