[java] How to extract epoch from LocalDate and LocalDateTime?

How do I extract the epoch value to Long from instances of LocalDateTime or LocalDate? I've tried the following, but it gives me other results:

LocalDateTime time = LocalDateTime.parse("04.02.2014  19:51:01", DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd.MM.yyyy  HH:mm:ss"));
System.out.println(time.getLong(ChronoField.SECOND_OF_DAY)); // gives 71461
System.out.println(time.getLong(ChronoField.EPOCH_DAY)); // gives 16105

What I want is simply the value 1391539861 for the local datetime "04.02.2014 19:51:01". My timezone is Europe/Oslo UTC+1 with daylight saving time.

Look at this method to see which fields are supported. You will find for LocalDateTime:

•NANO_OF_SECOND 
•NANO_OF_DAY 
•MICRO_OF_SECOND 
•MICRO_OF_DAY 
•MILLI_OF_SECOND 
•MILLI_OF_DAY 
•SECOND_OF_MINUTE 
•SECOND_OF_DAY 
•MINUTE_OF_HOUR 
•MINUTE_OF_DAY 
•HOUR_OF_AMPM 
•CLOCK_HOUR_OF_AMPM 
•HOUR_OF_DAY 
•CLOCK_HOUR_OF_DAY 
•AMPM_OF_DAY 
•DAY_OF_WEEK 
•ALIGNED_DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH 
•ALIGNED_DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_YEAR 
•DAY_OF_MONTH 
•DAY_OF_YEAR 
•EPOCH_DAY 
•ALIGNED_WEEK_OF_MONTH 
•ALIGNED_WEEK_OF_YEAR 
•MONTH_OF_YEAR 
•PROLEPTIC_MONTH 
•YEAR_OF_ERA 
•YEAR 
•ERA 

The field INSTANT_SECONDS is - of course - not supported because a LocalDateTime cannot refer to any absolute (global) timestamp. But what is helpful is the field EPOCH_DAY which counts the elapsed days since 1970-01-01. Similar thoughts are valid for the type LocalDate (with even less supported fields).

If you intend to get the non-existing millis-since-unix-epoch field you also need the timezone for converting from a local to a global type. This conversion can be done much simpler, see other SO-posts.

Coming back to your question and the numbers in your code:

The result 1605 is correct
  => (2014 - 1970) * 365 + 11 (leap days) + 31 (in january 2014) + 3 (in february 2014)
The result 71461 is also correct => 19 * 3600 + 51 * 60 + 1

16105L * 86400 + 71461 = 1391543461 seconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00 (attention, no timezone) Then you can subtract the timezone offset (watch out for possible multiplication by 1000 if in milliseconds).

UPDATE after given timezone info:

local time = 1391543461 secs
offset = 3600 secs (Europe/Oslo, winter time in february)
utc = 1391543461 - 3600 = 1391539861

As JSR-310-code with two equivalent approaches:

long secondsSinceUnixEpoch1 =
  LocalDateTime.of(2014, 2, 4, 19, 51, 1).atZone(ZoneId.of("Europe/Oslo")).toEpochSecond();

long secondsSinceUnixEpoch2 =
  LocalDate
    .of(2014, 2, 4)
    .atTime(19, 51, 1)
    .atZone(ZoneId.of("Europe/Oslo"))
    .toEpochSecond();

'Millis since unix epoch' represents an instant, so you should use the Instant class:

private long toEpochMilli(LocalDateTime localDateTime)
{
  return localDateTime.atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault())
    .toInstant().toEpochMilli();
}

Convert from human readable date to epoch:

long epoch = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyyHH:mm:ss").parse("01/01/1970 01:00:00").getTime() / 1000;

Convert from epoch to human readable date:

String date = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyyHH:mm:ss").format(new java.util.Date (epoch*1000));

For other language converter: https://www.epochconverter.com

The conversion you need requires the offset from UTC/Greewich, or a time-zone.

If you have an offset, there is a dedicated method on LocalDateTime for this task:

long epochSec = localDateTime.toEpochSecond(zoneOffset);

If you only have a ZoneId then you can obtain the ZoneOffset from the ZoneId:

ZoneOffset zoneOffset = ZoneId.of("Europe/Oslo").getRules().getOffset(ldt);

But you may find conversion via ZonedDateTime simpler:

long epochSec = ldt.atZone(zoneId).toEpochSecond();

This is one way without using time a zone:

LocalDateTime now = LocalDateTime.now();
long epoch = (now.getLong(ChronoField.EPOCH_DAY) * 86400000) + now.getLong(ChronoField.MILLI_OF_DAY);