It's not entirely clear where your trying to go with your problem, but one 'solution' depending on your destination could be: time_obj<-format(as.POSIXct(test,format="%H:%M:%S"),format="%H:%M:%S")> time_obj[1] "00:49:19"> class(time_obj)[1] "character" But this is a fairly unsatisfactory solution since it simply undoes the application of as.POSIXct Perhaps you can share more of your problem so folks responding know where you're trying to get to. -- View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Problem-with-converting-character-vector-to-time-tp4634283p4634293.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.