AbsoluteTime
gives the total number of seconds since the beginning of January 1, 1900, in your time zone.
AbsoluteTime[date]
gives the absolute time specification corresponding to the given date specification.
Details and Options

- AbsoluteTime[] uses whatever date and time have been set on your computer system. It performs no corrections for time zones, daylight saving time, etc.
- In AbsoluteTime[date], the following date and time specifications can be given as date:
-
date DateObject specification {y,m,d,h,m,s} DateList specification time AbsoluteTime specification "string" DateString specification {"string",fmt} date string formed from the specified format - AbsoluteTime[TimeZone -> z] gives the date and time inferred for time zone z by assuming that your computer is set for the time zone specified by $TimeZone. »
- AbsoluteTime[] is always accurate down to a granularity of $TimeUnit seconds, but on many systems is much more accurate.
- Shorter lists can be used in AbsoluteTime[{y,m,…}]: {y} is equivalent to {y,1,1,0,0,0}, {y,m} to {y,m,1,0,0,0}, etc.
- Values of m, d, h, m, s outside their normal ranges are appropriately reduced. Noninteger values of d, h, m, s can also be used. »
- The number of seconds returned by AbsoluteTime does not take into account leap seconds.
Examples
open allclose allBasic Examples (5)
Scope (5)
Options (1)
Properties & Relations (5)
Compute the number of seconds between January 1, 1900, and January 1, 2000:
AbsoluteTime represents dates as seconds since the beginning of 1900:
DateObject represents a given date:
DateList represents dates as lists of date elements:
DateString represents dates as strings:
Use DateListPlot to plot data with absolute time coordinates on a time scale:
UnixTime returns the number of seconds since the beginning of 1970, in the GMT time zone:
Therefore this difference is constant:
It is the number of seconds since January 1, 1900, to January 1, 1970:
JulianDate returns the number of days since noon on November 24, 4714 BCE in the GMT time zone:
Therefore this difference is constant:
It is the number of seconds since noon on November 24, 4714, to the beginning of January 1, 1900:
Text
Wolfram Research (1991), AbsoluteTime, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AbsoluteTime.html (updated 2014).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1991. "AbsoluteTime." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2014. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AbsoluteTime.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1991). AbsoluteTime. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AbsoluteTime.html