Unlock the power of time with our Epoch & Unix Timestamp Conversion Tools. Whether you’re a developer, analyst, or simply curious about timestamps, our tools simplify the conversion process. Easily switch between human-readable dates and timestamps with precision and accuracy. Join thousands of users who rely on our user-friendly interface and multiple programming language support to streamline their timestamp-related tasks. Don’t waste time deciphering timestamps – get started today and harness the full potential of time in your projects.
Epoch time, also known as Unix time or POSIX time, is a pivotal concept in computing, representing a digital timeline of our world’s history. It quantifies time by measuring the number of seconds that have transpired since a defining moment: January 1, 1970, at precisely midnight in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/GMT). This momentous starting point, referred to as the Unix epoch, serves as the cornerstone of timekeeping in the digital realm.
In essence, the epoch is akin to “Unix time 0,” signifying the birth of a new era, where the digital clock began ticking. Frequently, the term ‘epoch’ is used interchangeably with Unix time, illustrating its significance in the digital landscape.
However, it’s worth noting that the epoch’s journey is not without its challenges. Some systems store epoch dates as signed 32-bit integers, a format that presents a unique challenge set to occur on January 19, 2038, often referred to as the “Year 2038 problem” or Y2038. This looming issue arises due to the limitations of the 32-bit integer format, which won’t be able to represent time accurately beyond that date.
To make sense of this digital timeline, our converter on this page steps in, facilitating the transformation of timestamps expressed in seconds (10-digit), milliseconds (13-digit), and even microseconds (16-digit) into human-readable dates. This tool bridges the divide between the complexities of computing and our everyday comprehension of time, providing clarity in the digital era.
| Human-Readable Time Conversion | Seconds |
| 1 hour | 3,600 seconds |
| 1 day | 86,400 seconds |
| 1 week | 604,800 seconds |
| 1 month (average 30.44 days) | 2,629,743 seconds |
| 1 year (average 365.24 days) | 31,556,926 seconds |
Understanding how to work with Unix time in different programming languages is crucial for developers. Below are some code snippets that demonstrate how to obtain the current Unix timestamp:
Understanding time conversions is valuable, whether you’re managing schedules, working with data, or planning events. These conversions offer a bridge between the familiar human-readable time and the precise seconds used in computing and various applications.
| Language/Environment | Code to Get Current Epoch Time |
| PHP | time() |
| Python | import time; time.time() |
| Ruby | Time.now.to_i |
| Perl | time |
| Java | System.currentTimeMillis()/1000 |
| C# (C Sharp) | (long)(DateTime.UtcNow.Subtract(new DateTime(1970, 1, 1))).TotalSeconds |
| Objective-C | [[NSDate date] timeIntervalSince1970] |
| C++11 | std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::seconds>(std::chrono::system_clock::now().time_since_epoch()).count() |
| Lua | os.time() |
| VBScript/ASP | DateDiff(“s”, “01/01/1970 00:00:00”, Now()) |
| AutoIT | Round(TimerDiff(0) / 1000) |
| Delphi | (DateTimeToUnix(Now) div 86400) * 86400 |
| R | as.numeric(Sys.time()) |
| Erlang/OTP | erlang:system_time(second) |
| MySQL | SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(); |
| PostgreSQL | SELECT EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM NOW()); |
| SQLite | SELECT strftime(‘%s’, ‘now’); |
| Oracle PL/SQL | (SYSTIMESTAMP – TO_TIMESTAMP(‘19700101 00:00:00’, ‘YYYYMMDD HH24:MI:SS’)) * 86400 |
| SQL Server | SELECT DATEDIFF(SECOND, ‘19700101’, GETUTCDATE()) |
| IBM Informix | CURRENT + 0 |
| JavaScript | (new Date()).getTime() |
| Visual FoxPro | SECONDS() – 946684800 |
| Go | time.Now().Unix() |
| Adobe ColdFusion | createDateTime(1970,1,1,0,0,0).getTime()/1000 |
| Tcl/Tk | clock seconds |
| Unix/Linux Shell | date +%s |
| Solaris | perl -MTime::HiRes -e ‘print time’ |
| PowerShell | [Math]::Round((Get-Date -UFormat %s),0) |
| Other OS’s | Consult platform-specific documentation or utilize Unix/Linux Shell commands as applicable. |
Please note that the accuracy of these methods may vary depending on the system and the programming language’s capabilities. Always consider the specific requirements and precision you need when selecting an approach.
| Language/Platform | Code Example |
| PHP | php strtotime(‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’); |
| Python | python import time; time.mktime(time.strptime(‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’, ‘%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S’)) |
| Ruby | ruby Time.parse(‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’).to_i |
| Perl | perl use Time::Local; my $epoch = timelocal(0, 30, 14, 5, 8, 123); |
| Java | java SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(“yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss”); Date date = sdf.parse(“2023-09-05 14:30:00”); long epoch = date.getTime() / 1000; |
| VBScript/ASP | vbscript Function ConvertToEpoch(dateStr) ‘ dateStr format: “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss” Dim parts, epoch parts = Split(dateStr, ” “) epoch = DateDiff(“s”, “1970-01-01 00:00:00″, parts(0) & ” ” & parts(1)) ConvertToEpoch = epoch End Function |
| AutoIT | autoit Local $date = “2023-09-05 14:30:00” Local $epoch = _DateToTime($date) MsgBox(0, “Epoch Time”, $epoch) |
| Delphi | delphi uses SysUtils, DateUtils; var dt: TDateTime; epoch: Int64; begin dt := StrToDateTime(‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’); epoch := DateTimeToUnix(dt); end; |
| C | c #include <stdio.h> #include <time.h> int main() { struct tm tm = {0}; char date_str[] = “2023-09-05 14:30:00”; strptime(date_str, “%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”, &tm); time_t epoch = mktime(&tm); printf(“%ld\n”, epoch); return 0; } |
| R | r date_str <- “2023-09-05 14:30:00” epoch <- as.numeric(as.POSIXct(date_str)) |
| Go | go package main import ( “fmt” “time” ) func main() { dateStr := “2023-09-05 14:30:00” t, _ := time.Parse(“2006-01-02 15:04:05”, dateStr) epoch := t.Unix() fmt.Println(epoch) } |
| Rust | rust extern crate chrono; use chrono::{NaiveDateTime, Timelike}; fn main() { let date_str = “2023-09-05 14:30:00”; let dt = NaiveDateTime::parse_from_str(date_str, “%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”).unwrap(); let epoch = dt.timestamp(); println!(“{}”, epoch); } |
| Adobe ColdFusion | coldfusion <cfset dateStr = “2023-09-05 14:30:00”> <cfset epoch = createDateTime(dateStr).getTime() / 1000> |
| MySQL | mysql SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’); |
| PostgreSQL | postgresql SELECT EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM TIMESTAMP ‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’); |
| SQLite | sqlite SELECT strftime(‘%s’, ‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’); |
| SQL Server | sql SELECT DATEDIFF(SECOND, ‘19700101’, ‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’); |
| JavaScript | In a browser environment: javascript var dateStr = ‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’; var epoch = new Date(dateStr).getTime() / 1000; In Node.js: javascript const dateStr = ‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’; const epoch = new Date(dateStr).getTime() / 1000; |
| Unix/Linux Shell | bash date -d ‘2023-09-05 14:30:00’ +%s |
Please note that the code examples provided assume that the input date is in the format ‘YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. ‘ You may need to adjust the format if your input date is in a different format.
| Language/Platform | Code Example |
| PHP | php echo date(‘Y-m-d H:i:s’, 1670261400); |
| Python | python import datetime; print(datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(1670261400).strftime(‘%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S’)) |
| Ruby | ruby puts Time.at(1670261400).strftime(‘%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S’) |
| C# | csharp var epoch = 1670261400; var dt = DateTimeOffset.FromUnixTimeSeconds(epoch); Console.WriteLine(dt.ToString(“yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss”)); |
| Perl | perl use POSIX qw(strftime); my $epoch = 1670261400; my $date = strftime(“%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”, localtime($epoch)); print $date; |
| Java | java long epoch = 1670261400; java.util.Date date = new java.util.Date(epoch * 1000); SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(“yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss”); String formattedDate = sdf.format(date); System.out.println(formattedDate); |
| Lua | lua local epoch = 1670261400 local dt = os.date(‘%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S’, epoch) print(dt) |
| VBScript/ASP | vbscript Function ConvertToHumanDate(epoch) ‘ epoch is in seconds Dim dt dt = DateAdd(“s”, epoch, #1970-01-01 00:00:00#) ConvertToHumanDate = FormatDateTime(dt, vbLongDate) End Function |
| AutoIT | autoit $epoch = 1670261400 $date = _DateAdd(“s”, $epoch, “1970-01-01 00:00:00”) MsgBox(0, “Human-Readable Date”, $date) |
| Delphi | delphi uses SysUtils, DateUtils; var epoch: Int64 = 1670261400; var dt: TDateTime; begin dt := UnixToDateTime(epoch); ShowMessage(FormatDateTime(‘yyyy-mm-dd hh:nn:ss’, dt)); end; |
| C | c #include <stdio.h> #include <time.h> int main() { time_t epoch = 1670261400; struct tm *tm_info; char buffer[20]; tm_info = localtime(&epoch); strftime(buffer, 20, “%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”, tm_info); printf(“%s\n”, buffer); return 0; } |
| Objective-C | objective-c NSTimeInterval epoch = 1670261400; NSDate *date = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSince1970:epoch]; NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init]; [dateFormatter setDateFormat:@”yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss”]; NSString *formattedDate = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date]; NSLog(@”%@”, formattedDate); |
| R | r epoch <- 1670261400 date <- as.POSIXct(epoch, origin=”1970-01-01″) format(date, “%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”) |
| Go | go package main import ( “fmt” “time” ) func main() { epoch := int64(1670261400) t := time.Unix(epoch, 0) fmt.Println(t.Format(“2006-01-02 15:04:05”)) } |
| Adobe ColdFusion | coldfusion <cfset epoch = 1670261400> <cfset humanDate = dateFormat(epoch / 1000, “yyyy-mm-dd”) & ” ” & timeFormat(epoch / 1000, “HH:mm:ss”)> <cfoutput>#humanDate#</cfoutput> |
| MySQL | mysql SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(1670261400, ‘%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s’); |
| PostgreSQL | postgresql SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP(1670261400); |
| SQLite | sqlite SELECT datetime(1670261400, ‘unixepoch’, ‘localtime’); |
| Oracle PL/SQL | plsql SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP(1670261400) FROM DUAL; |
| SQL Server | sql SELECT DATEADD(SECOND, 1670261400, ‘19700101’) AS HumanReadableDate; |
| IBM Informix | informix SELECT EXTEND(EXTEND(1670261400, YEAR TO SECOND), YEAR TO FRACTION(3)) AS HumanReadableDate FROM systables WHERE tabid=1; |
| Microsoft Excel / LibreOffice Calc | In a cell, use a formula like =TEXT(1670261400/86400,”yyyy-mm-dd HH:mm:ss”) where 1670261400 is the epoch value. |
| Crystal Reports | You can use a custom formula in Crystal Reports to convert epoch to a human-readable date. |
| JavaScript | In a browser environment: javascript var epoch = 1670261400; var date = new Date(epoch * 1000); console.log(date.toISOString().slice(0, 19).replace(‘T’, ‘ ‘)); In Node.js: javascript const epoch = 1670261400; const date = new Date(epoch * 1000); console.log(date.toISOString().slice(0, 19).replace(‘T’, ‘ ‘)); |
| Tcl/Tk | tcl set epoch 1670261400 set formatted_date [clock format $epoch -format “%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”] puts $formatted_date |
| MATLAB | matlab epoch = 1670261400; datestr(datetime(epoch, ‘ConvertFrom’, ‘posixtime’), ‘yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS’) |
| IBM PureData System for Analytics | You can use SQL functions like TIMESTAMP_SECONDS to convert epoch to a human-readable date. |
| Unix/Linux Shell | bash epoch=1670261400 date -d “@$epoch” ‘+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S’ |
| Mac OS X | Same as Unix/Linux Shell using the date command. |
| PowerShell | powershell $epoch = 1670261400 $date = Get-Date -Date “1970-01-01 00:00:00” $date = $date.AddSeconds($epoch) $date.ToString(“yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss”) |
| Other OS’s | The Unix/Linux Shell and Mac OS X methods should work on many Unix-like operating systems. For other operating systems, you can adapt the appropriate method or use a programming language available on that OS. |
Please note that the code examples provided assume that the epoch value is 1670261400. You should replace this value with your actual epoch value for conversion.
Timestamp conversion is crucial for understanding and interpreting time-based data in various contexts.
Developers use timestamp conversion to work with time data in programming and scripting.
Timestamps are frequently encountered in data analysis, and converting them is essential for meaningful insights.
Researchers often deal with timestamp data in various scientific studies, making conversion tools valuable for their work.
Unix time is widely used in computing because it provides a simple, consistent way to track time. It eliminates complexities related to time zones, daylight saving time, and varying calendar systems, making it ideal for programming, data storage, and synchronization across different systems.
The Year 2038 problem refers to the issue where Unix time, stored as a signed 32-bit integer, will exceed its maximum positive value on January 19, 2038. This will cause time calculations to reset or malfunction in systems that do not use a larger integer type. Modern systems mitigate this issue by using 64-bit representations of Unix time.
Our Epoch & Unix Timestamp Conversion Tools simplify the intricate process of working with timestamp data. Whether you’re deciphering logs, programming, or conducting research, these tools empower you to decode and convert timestamps effortlessly. Unlock the potential of timestamp data and enhance your data interpretation skills with our user-friendly conversion tools.