Unix Timestamp in Ruby
Ruby's Time class has built-in Unix timestamp support. Time.now.to_i gives you seconds; multiply by 1000 for milliseconds. Rails adds extra helpers via ActiveSupport.
Code Examples
Current timestamp (seconds)
Time.now.to_i
Returns the current Unix timestamp in seconds as an Integer. Clean and idiomatic.
Current timestamp (milliseconds)
(Time.now.to_f * 1000).to_i
to_f returns seconds as a Float with sub-second precision. Multiply by 1000 and convert to Integer for milliseconds.
Using Time.at to convert
Time.at(1708560000).utc # => 2024-02-22 00:00:00 UTC
Convert a Unix timestamp back to a Time object. Call .utc to display in UTC rather than local time.
Rails / ActiveSupport
Time.current.to_i # UTC-aware current time Time.zone.now.to_i # zone-aware current time
In Rails, prefer Time.current over Time.now — it respects config.time_zone. Both respond to to_i for Unix timestamps.
Parse ISO 8601 date to timestamp
require "time"
Time.parse("2024-06-15T12:00:00Z").to_iRequire 'time' for Time.parse. It handles ISO 8601, HTTP dates, and many other formats.
Note
Ruby's to_i truncates to seconds (not milliseconds). This is consistent with Python and Go. In Rails apps, always use Time.current or Time.zone.now instead of Time.now to avoid local-time bugs in multi-timezone apps.
Main Epoch Converter
Use the homepage when you need epoch to date, date to epoch, or a full epoch converter
This Ruby guide shows how to create and parse Unix timestamps in code. If your next step is broader search intent like epoch converter, epoch to date, epoch time to date, or unix epoch converter, jump back to the live homepage tools to paste a raw Unix value, auto-detect seconds versus milliseconds, and copy the readable answer instantly.