In Python Create A Numeric Date/Time Representation

Question

How in Python (3.4), how can I create a numeric date time representation? It will be used as a 'score' and ZRANGEBYSCORE* query on Redis?

More details: I'm using Redis and Python. I need to represent dates and time as numbers to allow me to query a Sorted Set. The set would be keyed on an ID. The score would be the numeric date time representation.

I've read this is possible using ZRANGEBYSCORE to get article IDs within a date range, but I'm unable to find any examples on how to create a numeric date time representation in Python that I can use as the score! Would you use something like an epoch?

@TigerhawkT3 Yes, exactly, but it would need to allow me to for example say, fetch all ids in the last x days etc — Prometheus
– Prometheus, Commented Apr 16, 2016 at 22:06
Say I have a date like 2016-04-15T14:43:44.269Z, I need this to be a numeric representation somehow. This way, I could get all keys within a range etc @TigerhawkT3 — Prometheus
– Prometheus, Commented Apr 16, 2016 at 22:08
If you need numbers (like int or float), that's what timestamps are for. If you want to do calculations, it's much easier with datetime, although that's a full object rather than a single number. — TigerhawkT3
– TigerhawkT3, Commented Apr 16, 2016 at 22:10

TigerhawkT3 · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-16 22:30:02Z

3

The time module has a time() function that produces a localized Unix-style timestamp.

>>> import time
>>> int(time.time())
1460845456

Note again that this is localized - it is based on the local time and is not timezone-aware.

If you want to do calculations, the datetime module is very useful:

>>> import datetime
>>> datetime.datetime.now()
datetime.datetime(2016, 4, 16, 15, 26, 14, 657718)
>>> datetime.datetime.now().day
16
>>> datetime.datetime.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=3)
datetime.datetime(2016, 4, 13, 15, 26, 43, 769385)

You can also convert between these formats:

>>> datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(time.time())
datetime.datetime(2016, 4, 16, 15, 28, 6, 29099)
>>> datetime.datetime.now().timestamp()
1460845739.061133

answered Apr 16, 2016 at 22:30

TigerhawkT3

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