How can I convert a Unix timestamp to DateTime and vice versa?

Solution 1:

Here's what you need:

public static DateTime UnixTimeStampToDateTime( double unixTimeStamp )
{
    // Unix timestamp is seconds past epoch
    DateTime dateTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
    dateTime = dateTime.AddSeconds( unixTimeStamp ).ToLocalTime();
    return dateTime;
}

Or, for Java (which is different because the timestamp is in milliseconds, not seconds):

public static DateTime JavaTimeStampToDateTime( double javaTimeStamp )
{
    // Java timestamp is milliseconds past epoch
    DateTime dateTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
    dateTime = dateTime.AddMilliseconds( javaTimeStamp ).ToLocalTime();
    return dateTime;
}

Solution 2:

The latest version of .NET (v4.6) has added built-in support for Unix time conversions. That includes both to and from Unix time represented by either seconds or milliseconds.

• Unix time in seconds to UTC DateTimeOffset:

DateTimeOffset dateTimeOffset = DateTimeOffset.FromUnixTimeSeconds(1000);

• DateTimeOffset to Unix time in seconds:

long unixTimeStampInSeconds = dateTimeOffset.ToUnixTimeSeconds();

• Unix time in milliseconds to UTC DateTimeOffset:

DateTimeOffset dateTimeOffset = DateTimeOffset.FromUnixTimeMilliseconds(1000000);

• DateTimeOffset to Unix time in milliseconds:

long unixTimeStampInMilliseconds = dateTimeOffset.ToUnixTimeMilliseconds();

Note: These methods convert to and from a UTC DateTimeOffset. To get a DateTime representation simply use the DateTimeOffset.UtcDateTime or DateTimeOffset.LocalDateTime properties:

DateTime dateTime = dateTimeOffset.UtcDateTime;

Solution 3:

DateTime to UNIX timestamp:

public static double DateTimeToUnixTimestamp(DateTime dateTime)
{
    return (TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeToUtc(dateTime) - 
           new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, System.DateTimeKind.Utc)).TotalSeconds;
}

Solution 4:

From Wikipedia:

UTC does not change with a change of seasons, but local time or civil time may change if a time zone jurisdiction observes daylight saving time (summer time). For example, local time on the east coast of the United States is five hours behind UTC during winter, but four hours behind while daylight saving is observed there.

So this is my code:

TimeSpan span = (DateTime.UtcNow - new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0,DateTimeKind.Utc));
double unixTime = span.TotalSeconds;

Solution 5:

Be careful, if you need precision higher than milliseconds!

.NET (v4.6) methods (e.g. FromUnixTimeMilliseconds) don't provide this precision.

AddSeconds and AddMilliseconds also cut off the microseconds in the double.

These versions have high precision:

Unix -> DateTime

public static DateTime UnixTimestampToDateTime(double unixTime)
{
    DateTime unixStart = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, System.DateTimeKind.Utc);
    long unixTimeStampInTicks = (long) (unixTime * TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond);
    return new DateTime(unixStart.Ticks + unixTimeStampInTicks, System.DateTimeKind.Utc);
}

DateTime -> Unix

public static double DateTimeToUnixTimestamp(DateTime dateTime)
{
    DateTime unixStart = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, System.DateTimeKind.Utc);
    long unixTimeStampInTicks = (dateTime.ToUniversalTime() - unixStart).Ticks;
    return (double) unixTimeStampInTicks / TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond;
}