How Can I Accurately Convert Python Datetime Objects to Epoch Time?

Converting Python Datetime to Epoch with strftime: Unveiling Timezone Discrepancies

To obtain the number of seconds since the epoch from a UTC datetime, developers often rely on the strftime function. However, as demonstrated in this question, using strftime('%s') to convert a datetime to epoch can yield inaccurate results due to timezone adjustments.

Why the Discrepancy?

By default, strftime incorporates the system's timezone into its calculations. As a result, it applies an implicit timezone shift, leading to incorrect epoch conversion for datetimes in certain timezones.

Solutions for Accurate Conversion

To avoid timezone-induced inaccuracies, consider these alternative approaches:

• Python 3.3 and Above: Use the timestamp() method, which returns an accurate timestamp in floating-point seconds since the epoch, without timezone adjustments.

datetime.datetime(2012, 4, 1, 0, 0).timestamp()

• Python 3.2 and Earlier: Explicitly calculate the total seconds since the epoch.

(datetime.datetime(2012, 4, 1, 0, 0) - datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1)).total_seconds()

Caution against Using strftime('%s')

It's crucial to note that the use of strftime('%s') is discouraged for epoch conversion. This is because strftime doesn't explicitly support '%s' as a formatting argument. Its compatibility stems from the underlying system's strftime implementation, which introduces timezone-specific behavior. This inconsistency can lead to incorrect results, making it an unreliable method for portable epoch conversion.

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