# Getting a timestamp **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [November 19, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179 "2009-11-19T04:10:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/1 "2009-11-19T04:10:43Z")
Hi, I would like to get a timestamp from a Date object. What is the best aproach for this? thank you ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/2 "2009-11-19T04:25:21Z")
jp wrote: > Hi, > > I would like to get a timestamp from a Date object. What is the best > aproach for this? > > thank you I think you want a DateTime or Time object, I believe a Date object only represents a date, not a date and time unless perhaps ‘date at midnight’ counts. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/3 "2009-11-19T04:26:31Z")
On Nov 18, 2009, at 10:10 PM, jp wrote: > Hi, > > I would like to get a timestamp from a Date object. What is the best > aproach for this? > > thank you I’m not sure if this is the most effective, but d = Date.new(2009, 11, 18) ts = d.strftime(‘%s’).to\_i seems to work for me, giving the timestamp for 2009-11-10 00:00:00 GMT Hope this helps, Mike – Mike S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.stok.ca/~mike/](http://www.stok.ca/~mike/) The “`Stok’ disclaimers” apply. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/4 "2009-11-19T04:31:48Z")
Don’t know if this is what you’re looking for but whenever I need a serial-style timestamp (like for a filename). I just do this: Time.now.strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S") ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 10:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/5 "2009-11-19T10:20:36Z")
On 19 Nov, 03:31, Sven S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > represents a date, not a date and time unless perhaps ‘date at midnight’ > > counts. Hi, It’s enough to have the milliseconds since a given date in the past, for example java has this: [http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/Date.html#getTime()](http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/Date.html#getTime()) It’s there anything comparable in Ruby? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/6 "2009-11-19T14:10:03Z")
jp wrote: > > > > Hi, > > It’s enough to have the milliseconds since a given date in the past, > for example java has this: > [Date (Java 2 Platform SE 5.0)](http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/Date.html#getTime()) > > It’s there anything comparable in Ruby? > > Thanks maybe… [http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/78420](http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/78420) ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/7 "2009-11-19T17:33:11Z")
2009/11/19 jp [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > > > > I think you want a DateTime or Time object, I believe a Date object only > > > > represents a date, not a date and time unless perhaps ‘date at midnight’ > > > > counts. > > Hi, > > It’s enough to have the milliseconds since a given date in the past, > for example java has this: > [Date (Java 2 Platform SE 5.0)](http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/Date.html#getTime()) > > It’s there anything comparable in Ruby? Hint: there is documentation… irb(main):001:0\> Time.now.to\_i =\> 1258647502 irb(main):002:0\> Time.at(0) =\> 1970-01-01 01:00:00 +0100 irb(main):003:0\> Time.at(0).to\_i =\> 0 Cheers robert ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-a-timestamp/179179/8 "2009-11-19T17:34:56Z")
2009/11/19 Robert K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > > > > > > > It’s there anything comparable in Ruby? > > Hint: there is documentation… > > irb(main):001:0\> Time.now.to\_i > =\> 1258647502 > irb(main):002:0\> Time.at(0) > =\> 1970-01-01 01:00:00 +0100 > irb(main):003:0\> Time.at(0).to\_i > =\> 0 PS: I forgot irb(main):007:0\> t=Time.now =\> 2009-11-19 17:20:25 +0100 irb(main):008:0\> t.to\_i =\> 1258647625 irb(main):009:0\> t.to\_f =\> 1258647625.44141 irb(main):010:0\> t.usec =\> 441411 Cheers robert