Unix Timestamp in Python
Python's time module gives you the current Unix timestamp as a float (seconds with decimal precision). Use int() to truncate to whole seconds.
Code Examples
Current timestamp (seconds)
import time int(time.time())
The classic way. time.time() returns a float; int() truncates to whole seconds. Works in Python 2 and 3.
Current timestamp (milliseconds)
import time int(time.time() * 1000)
Multiply by 1000 for millisecond precision — useful when interfacing with JavaScript or Java APIs.
Using datetime module
from datetime import datetime, timezone int(datetime.now(timezone.utc).timestamp())
The datetime approach. Always pass timezone.utc to avoid local-time ambiguity when computing the timestamp.
Convert timestamp to datetime
from datetime import datetime, timezone datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp, tz=timezone.utc)
Convert a Unix timestamp back to a timezone-aware datetime object. Omitting tz uses local time, which can cause bugs.
pandas (data science)
import pandas as pd pd.Timestamp.now().timestamp()
In pandas, Timestamps are timezone-aware and convert cleanly to Unix time.
Note
Python's time.time() returns seconds as a float, not milliseconds. This is the opposite of JavaScript's Date.now(). Be careful when passing timestamps between Python backends and JS frontends.
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