How do I get the current unix timestamp from PostgreSQL?
Unix timestamp is the number of seconds since midnight UTC January 1, 1970.
How do I get the correct unix timestamp from PostgreSQL?
When comparing to currenttimestamp.com and timestamp.1e5b.de I don't get the expected time from PostgreSQL:
This returns the correct timestamp:
SELECT extract(epoch from now());While this doesn't:
SELECT extract(epoch from now() at time zone 'utc');I live in time zone UTC +02. What is the correct way to get the current unix timestamp from PostgreSQL?
This returns the correct time and time zone:
SELECT now(); now ------------------------------- 2011-05-18 10:34:10.820464+02Another comparison:
select now(), extract(epoch from now()), extract(epoch from now() at time zone 'utc'); now | date_part | date_part -------------------------------+------------------+------------------ 2011-05-18 10:38:16.439332+02 | 1305707896.43933 | 1305700696.43933 (1 row) Unix timestamp from the web sites: 1305707967In postgres,
timestamp with time zonecan be abbreviated astimestamptz, andtimestamp without time zoneastimestamp. I will use the shorter type names for simplicity.Getting the Unix timestamp from a postgres
timestamptzlikenow()is simple, as you say, just:select extract(epoch from now());That's really all you need to know about getting the absolute time from anything of type
timestamptz, includingnow().Things only get complicated when you have a
timestampfield.When you put
timestamptzdata likenow()into that field, it will first be converted to a particular timezone (either explicitly withat time zoneor by converting to the session timezone) and the timezone information is discarded. It no longer refers to an absolute time. This is why you don't usually want to store timestamps astimestampand would normally usetimestamptz— maybe a film gets released at 6pm on a particular date in every timezone, that's the kind of use case.If you only ever work in a single time zone you might get away with (mis)using
timestamp. Conversion back totimestamptzis clever enough to cope with DST, and the timestamps are assumed, for conversion purposes, to be in the current time zone. Here's an example for GMT/BST:select '2011-03-27 00:59:00.0+00'::timestamptz::timestamp::timestamptz , '2011-03-27 01:00:00.0+00'::timestamptz::timestamp::timestamptz; /* |timestamptz |timestamptz | |:---------------------|:---------------------| |2011-03-27 00:59:00+00|2011-03-27 02:00:00+01| */But, note the following confusing behaviour:
set timezone to 0; values(1, '1970-01-01 00:00:00+00'::timestamp::timestamptz) , (2, '1970-01-01 00:00:00+02'::timestamp::timestamptz); /* |column1|column2 | |------:|:---------------------| | 1|1970-01-01 00:00:00+00| | 2|1970-01-01 00:00:00+00| */This is because:
PostgreSQL never examines the content of a literal string before determining its type, and therefore will treat both […] as timestamp without time zone. To ensure that a literal is treated as timestamp with time zone, give it the correct explicit type…In a literal that has been determined to be timestamp without time zone, PostgreSQL will silently ignore any time zone indication
Any idea how to convert the resulting decimal into an integer without decimal point (I mean merging the number and the decimal as one big integer). Thanks.
Like this but I'm sure you don't really want to do that. Perhaps you want to multiply by a power of ten and strip any remaining decimals?
@W.M. Maybe like this? `SELECT FLOOR(EXTRACT(epoch FROM NOW())*1000);`
SELECT extract(epoch from now() at time zone 'utc');doesn't return the correct timestamp because postgres timezone conversion throws away timezone information from the result:
9.9.3. AT TIME ZONE
Syntax: timestamp without time zone AT TIME ZONE zone
Returns: timestamp with time zone
Treat given time stamp without time zone as located in the specified time zoneSyntax: timestamp with time zone AT TIME ZONE zone
Returns: timestamp without time zone
Convert given time stamp with time zone to the new time zone, with no time zone designationafterwards, extract looks at timestamp without time zone and considers it to be a local time (although it is already utc in fact).
The correct way would be:
select now(), extract(epoch from now()), -- correct extract(epoch from now() at time zone 'utc'), -- incorrect extract(epoch from now() at time zone 'utc' at time zone 'utc'); -- correct now | date_part | date_part | date_part -------------------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------ 2014-10-14 10:19:23.726908+02 | 1413274763.72691 | 1413267563.72691 | 1413274763.72691 (1 row)In the last line the first
at time zoneperforms the conversion, the second one assigns new time zone to the result.
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Content dated before 6/26/2020 9:53 AM
W.M. 3 years ago
Any idea how to convert the resulting decimal into an integer without decimal point (I mean merging the number and the decimal as one big integer). Thanks.