How to Convert Python datetime Objects to Seconds Since January 1, 1970?

Converting datetime Objects to Seconds in Python

When working with datetime objects in Python, it can be useful to convert them to seconds for various calculations. This article will address the common issue of converting a datetime object to a timestamp representing the number of seconds since a specific point in time, such as January 1, 1970.

Method 1: Using toordinal() for Special Dates

For the specific date of January 1, 1970, you can use the toordinal() method to calculate the number of days since the start of the Gregorian calendar. However, this method only provides the day count and does not differentiate between dates with different times.

<code class="python">import datetime

t = datetime.datetime(2009, 10, 21, 0, 0)

t.toordinal()
# Output: 730873</code>

Method 2: Subtracting Datetime Objects

For dates other than January 1, 1970, you need to subtract the given datetime object from the starting date and calculate the difference in seconds. This can be done by converting the resulting timedelta object to seconds using total_seconds().

<code class="python">starting_date = datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1)

difference = (t - starting_date).total_seconds()
print(difference)
# Output: 1256083200.0</code>

Considerations

• Ensure that both the input datetime and starting date are in UTC time zone for accurate results.
• If your datetime has a timezone attached, you must also specify a timezone for the starting date to avoid errors during subtraction.

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