Converting python UTC timestamp to and from string

Question

Here is a python code snippet that takes the current time (in UTC), converts it to a formatted string and parses the string. I would like to get the same timestamp, but I get a different timestamp because of the time zone I am in.

How can I reconstruct the same time stamp as I started with?

#!/usr/bin/env python3  
import time
from datetime import datetime
TIME_FORMAT='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
ts = int(time.time()) # UTC timestamp
timestamp = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(ts).strftime(TIME_FORMAT)
d1 = datetime.strptime(timestamp, TIME_FORMAT)
ts1 = int(d1.strftime("%s"))
print("Time as string : %s" % d1)
print("Source timestamp : %d" % ts)
print("Parsed timestamp : %d" % ts1)

Output:

Time as string : 2018-12-06 00:47:32
Source timestamp : 1544057252
Parsed timestamp : 1544086052

Omry Yadan · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-06 02:44:38Z

10

In the string, no timezone is specified, so it is not considered as UTC but as your personal timezone. To solve the problem, you have to specify the string is UTC when parsing, like this:

d1 = datetime.strptime(timestamp + "+0000", TIME_FORMAT + '%z')
ts1 = d1.timestamp()

Full working snippet:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import time
from datetime import datetime
TIME_FORMAT='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
ts = int(time.time()) # UTC timestamp
timestamp = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(ts).strftime(TIME_FORMAT)
d1 = datetime.strptime(timestamp + "+0000", TIME_FORMAT + '%z')
ts1 = d1.timestamp()
print("Time as string : %s" % d1)
print("Source timestamp : %d" % ts)
print("Parsed timestamp : %d" % ts1)

+0000 corresponds to the utc offset.

edited Dec 6, 2018 at 2:44

Omry Yadan

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answered Dec 6, 2018 at 1:32

Axel Puig

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4 Comments

Omry Yadan Over a year ago

That worked (I was accidentally running it with python 2).

Omry Yadan Over a year ago

actually, I spoke too soon. I still have the time delta: d1 = datetime.strptime(timestamp + "+0000", TIME_FORMAT + '%z') 1544063570 vs 1544092370

Axel Puig Over a year ago

Surprising, this code works for me, except that I have replaced ts1 = int(d1.strftime("%s")) with ts1 = d1.timestamp() because I had an error. Maybe here is your problem?

Omry Yadan Over a year ago

yes, now I get the same timestamp. will edit the answer with the full working snippet. thanks again!

Oleksii · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-24 09:00:11Z

4

From string to timestamp without timezone

from datetime import datetime, timezone

DATE = "2021-05-21 12:00"
ts = datetime.strptime(DATE, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M").replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc).timestamp()
print(ts)

answered Jul 24, 2021 at 9:00

Oleksii

412 bronze badges

1 Comment

Claudiu Over a year ago

.replace on tzinfo does not properly handle daylight savings time. Correct answer is: pytz.utc.localize(datetime.strptime(DATE, ...))

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