Current Unix Timestamp
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Timestamp → Date
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Date → Timestamp
Epoch Timestamp
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What is a Unix Timestamp?
The Unix timestamp (also known as Epoch time or POSIX time) is a system for describing a point in time. It is defined as the number of seconds that have elapsed since the Unix Epoch (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970), minus leap seconds.
Why Developers Use Epoch Time
- Timezone Agnostic: Storing time as a single integer (e.g.,
1672531200) avoids confusion with DST (Daylight Savings Time) and Timezones. You only convert to local time when displaying to the user. - Efficiency: Integers take up less space and are faster to index in databases than formatted date strings.
- Math: Calculating the difference between two dates is simple subtraction (Time A - Time B = Seconds Difference).
The Year 2038 Problem
On January 19, 2038, 32-bit systems will run out of storage space for the integer timestamp (reaching 2,147,483,647), potentially causing them to wrap around and interpret the date as 1901. Modern 64-bit systems have solved this issuance for the next 292 billion years.