Convert datetime object to milliseconds since epoch in Python

This post will discuss how to convert the datetime object to milliseconds since the epoch in Python.

1. Using `timedelta.total_seconds()` function

A simple solution is to get the timedelta object by finding the difference of the given datetime with Epoch time, i.e., midnight 1 January 1970. To obtain time in milliseconds, you can use the timedelta.total_seconds() * 1000.

from datetime import datetime

def timestamp(dt):

epoch = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(0)

return (dt - epoch).total_seconds() * 1000.0

if __name__ == '__main__':

dt = datetime(2020, 1, 1)

print(timestamp(dt)) # 1577836800000.0

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2. Using `datetime.timestamp()` function

Starting with Python 3.3, you can use the datetime.timestamp() function to get the Epoch timestamp in seconds as a floating-point number. Since datetime instances are assumed to represent local time, you should first convert the datetime object to UTC. This can be done with dt.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc).

from datetime import datetime, timezone

def timestamp(dt):

return dt.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc).timestamp() * 1000

if __name__ == '__main__':

dt = datetime(2020, 1, 1)

print(timestamp(dt)) # 1577836800000.0

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3. Using delorean module

If you’re already using the delorean module, consider using its epoch attribute, which returns Epoch time in seconds.

from datetime import datetime

import delorean

def timestamp(dt):

return delorean.Delorean(dt, timezone='UTC').epoch * 1000

if __name__ == '__main__':

dt = datetime(2020, 1, 1)

print(timestamp(dt)) # 1577836800000.0

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That’s all about converting datetime objects to milliseconds since the epoch in Python.

Convert datetime object to milliseconds since epoch in Python

1. Using timedelta.total_seconds() function

2. Using datetime.timestamp() function

3. Using delorean module

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1. Using `timedelta.total_seconds()` function

2. Using `datetime.timestamp()` function