Epoch in Logo

A common requirement in programs is getting the number of seconds, milliseconds, or nanoseconds since the Unix epoch. Here’s how to do it in Java.

import java.time.Instant;

public class Epoch {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Use Instant.now() to get the current time
        Instant now = Instant.now();
        System.out.println(now);

        // Get elapsed time since the Unix epoch in seconds,
        // milliseconds or nanoseconds
        System.out.println(now.getEpochSecond());
        System.out.println(now.toEpochMilli());
        System.out.println(now.getNano());

        // You can also convert integer seconds or nanoseconds
        // since the epoch into the corresponding Instant
        System.out.println(Instant.ofEpochSecond(now.getEpochSecond()));
        System.out.println(Instant.ofEpochSecond(0, now.getNano()));
    }
}

To run the program:

$ javac Epoch.java
$ java Epoch
2023-05-22T12:34:56.789Z
1684759696
1684759696789
789000000
2023-05-22T12:34:56Z
1970-01-01T00:00:00.789Z

Next, we’ll look at another time-related task: time parsing and formatting.