Unless you absolutely have to convert the date to an integer, consider using a Double
instead to represent the time interval. After all, this is the type that timeIntervalSince1970
returns. All of the answers that convert to integers loose sub-millisecond precision, but this solution is much more accurate (although you will still lose some precision due to floating-point imprecision).
public extension Date {
/// The interval, in milliseconds, between the date value and
/// 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970.
/// Equivalent to `self.timeIntervalSince1970 * 1000`.
var millisecondsSince1970: Double {
return self.timeIntervalSince1970 * 1000
}
/**
Creates a date value initialized relative to 00:00:00 UTC
on 1 January 1970 by a given number of **milliseconds**.
equivalent to
```
self.init(timeIntervalSince1970: TimeInterval(milliseconds) / 1000)
```
- Parameter millisecondsSince1970: A time interval in milliseconds.
*/
init(millisecondsSince1970: Double) {
self.init(timeIntervalSince1970: TimeInterval(milliseconds) / 1000)
}
}