How do I get seconds since 1/1/1970 of a Python datetime object?

Question

I'm using Python 3.7 and Django. I wanted to get the number of seconds (or milliseconds) since 1/1/1970 for a datetime object. Following the advice here -- In Python, how do you convert a `datetime` object to seconds?, I implemented

now = datetime.now()
...
return [len(removed_elts) == 0, score, now.total_seconds()]

but the "now.total_seconds()" line is giving the error

AttributeError: 'datetime.datetime' object has no attribute 'total_seconds'

What's the right way to get the seconds since 1/1/1970?

I think you are only having a problem because you didn't subtract the `datetime` objects to get a `timedelta` object (which does have an attribute `total_seconds`). I believe that [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/7852969/5982697) on the question you linked does what you want. But you can also use [`datetime.timestamp`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#datetime.datetime.timestamp) as mentioned below. — Heath, Sep 03 '19 at 14:44

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:29

2

This should work.

import datetime
first_date = datetime.datetime(1970, 01, 01)
time_since = datetime.datetime.now() - first_date
seconds = int(time_since.total_seconds())

answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:29

Sahil

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Are "time_since" and "first_date" different object types? – Dave Sep 03 '19 at 14:38
they're bot `datetime` objects. @Dave – Sahil Sep 03 '19 at 15:13

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:34

2

import time
print(time.time())

Output:

1567532027.192546

answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:34

Alderven

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:53

In contrast to the advice you mentioned, you don't call total_seconds() on a timedelta object but on a datetime object, which simply doesn't have this attribute.

So, one solution for Python 3.7 (and 2.7) could for example be:

import datetime

now = datetime.now()
then = datetime.datetime(1970,1,1)
...
return [len(removed_elts) == 0, score, (now - then).total_seconds()]

Another shorter but less clear (at least on first sight) solution for Python 3.3+ (credits to ababak for this one):

import datetime

now = datetime.now()
...
return [len(removed_elts) == 0, score, now.timestamp()]

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:29

1

now = datetime.now()
...
return [len(removed_elts) == 0, score, now.timestamp()]

answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:29

ababak

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 03 '19 at 14:40

You can try:

import datetime

now = datetime.datetime.now()
delta = (now - datetime.datetime(1970,1,1))
print(delta.total_seconds())

now is of type datetime.datetime and has no .total_seconds() method.

delta is of type datetime.timedelta and does have a .total_seconds() method.

Hope this helps.

How do I get seconds since 1/1/1970 of a Python datetime object?

5 Answers5