r - Is there a way to convert mm:ss.00 to seconds.00?

Question

I've got some performance time data in mm:ss.00 format (i.e. 02:15.45, or 00:34.58). R is recognizing the variable as a factor, but I'd like to convert each performance time to just seconds (i.e. 02:15.45 to 135.45). I've searched for an answer but can't seem to find a way to make it work. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Using lubridate package (part of tidyverse):

library(lubridate)
period_to_seconds(hms("12:12:54"))