What does the Z mean in Unix timestamp 120314170138Z

Question

I have an X 509 certificate which has the following 2 timestamps     validFrom     String 13   120314165227Z    validTo       String 13   130314165227Z    What does the postfix character  Z  mean  Does it specify the timezone

User · Answer

The Z stands for  Zulu  - your times are in UTC   From Wikipedia      The UTC time zone is sometimes denoted by the letter Z   a reference to the equivalent nautical time zone  GMT   which has been denoted by a Z since about 1950  The letter also refers to the  zone description  of zero hours  which has been used since 1920  see time zone history   Since the NATO phonetic alphabet and amateur radio word for Z is  Zulu   UTC is sometimes known as Zulu time  This is especially true in aviation  where Zulu is the universal standard

User · Answer

quot Z quot  doesn t stand for  quot Zulu quot  I don t have any more information than the Wikipedia article cited by the two existing answers  but I believe the interpretation that  quot Z quot  stands for  quot Zulu quot  is incorrect  UTC time is referred to as  quot Zulu time quot  because of the use of Z to identify it  not the other way around  The  quot Z quot  seems to have been used to mark the time zone as the  quot zero zone quot   in which case  quot Z quot  unsurprisingly stands for  quot zero quot   assuming the following information from Wikipedia is accurate    Around 1950  a letter suffix was added to the zone description  assigning Z to the zero zone  and A   M  except J  to the east and N   Y to the west  J may be assigned to local time in non-nautical applications     zones M and Y have the same clock time but differ by 24 hours  a full day   These can be vocalized using the NATO phonetic alphabet which pronounces the letter Z as Zulu  leading to the use of the term  quot Zulu Time quot  for Greenwich Mean Time  or UT1 from January 1  1972 onward

User · Answer

Yes   Z  stands for Zulu time  which is also GMT and UTC   From http   en wikipedia org wiki Coordinated Universal Time      The UTC time zone is sometimes denoted by the letter Z   a reference to   the equivalent nautical time zone  GMT   which has been denoted by a Z   since about 1950  The letter also refers to the  zone description  of   zero hours  which has been used since 1920  see time zone history     Since the NATO phonetic alphabet and amateur radio word for Z is    Zulu   UTC is sometimes known as Zulu time    Technically  because the definition of nautical time zones is based on longitudinal position  the Z time is not exactly identical to the actual GMT time  zone   However  since it is primarily used as a reference time  it doesn t matter what area of Earth it applies to as long as everyone uses the same reference   From wikipedia again  http   en wikipedia org wiki Nautical time      Around 1950  a letter suffix was added to the zone description    assigning Z to the zero zone  and A   M  except J  to the east and N   Y   to the west  J may be assigned to local time in non-nautical   applications  zones M and Y have the same clock time but differ by 24   hours  a full day   These were to be vocalized using a phonetic   alphabet which pronounces the letter Z as Zulu  leading sometimes to   the use of the term  Zulu Time   The Greenwich time zone runs from   7 5  W to 7 5  E longitude  while zone A runs from 7 5  E to 22 5  E longitude  etc

[timezone] What does the 'Z' mean in Unix timestamp '120314170138Z'?

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