About Unix Timestamps
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). This date is known as the Unix epoch. Unix timestamps provide a standardized way to represent dates and times as a single number, making them easy to store, compare, and manipulate.
Common Use Cases
- Database Storage: Store dates as timestamps in databases
- API Development: Handle date/time in API requests and responses
- Logging: Record event timestamps in log files
- Date Calculations: Perform date arithmetic and comparisons
- Cache Expiration: Set expiration times for cached data
Timestamp Formats
- Unix Timestamp (seconds): 1699123456 - Most common format
- Milliseconds: 1699123456000 - JavaScript Date.now() format
- ISO 8601: 2023-11-04T12:30:56Z - Human-readable format
- RFC 2822: Sat, 04 Nov 2023 12:30:56 GMT - Email format
Important Notes
- Unix timestamps are always in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)
- JavaScript uses milliseconds, while Unix uses seconds
- The year 2038 problem: 32-bit systems will overflow on January 19, 2038
- Always consider timezone when converting timestamps
- Use 64-bit integers for timestamps to avoid overflow issues
Best Practices
- Store timestamps in UTC and convert to local time for display
- Use Unix timestamps for server-side date handling
- Convert to human-readable format for user-facing content
- Be aware of timezone differences when working with timestamps
- Use appropriate precision (seconds vs milliseconds) for your use case
