datetimeutcfromtimestamp1477031882

The likely subject of the inquiry is Python's datetime.utcfromtimestamp function, a component of the standard library's datetime module. This function converts a POSIX timestamp, defined as the number of seconds since the Unix epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC), into a Python datetime object that represents the corresponding time in UTC. The resulting datetime is naive, meaning it has no timezone information attached (tzinfo is None), and should be interpreted as UTC time.

Usage and behavior: utcfromtimestamp takes a numeric timestamp (int or float) and returns a datetime object with year, month, day, hour, minute, and second set according to the UTC equivalent of that timestamp. It preserves fractional seconds if the input is a float, providing sub-second precision in the resulting object. The function performs no conversion to local time or daylight saving adjustments; it is a direct translation of epoch seconds into UTC.

Comparison with related functions: utcfromtimestamp differs from fromtimestamp, which converts a timestamp to the local time by default or to a specified timezone when a tz argument is provided. To obtain a timezone-aware UTC datetime, one can use fromtimestamp(ts, tz=datetime.timezone.utc) or attach a tzinfo of UTC to the result.

Common uses: converting Unix timestamps from logs or external systems to human-readable UTC datetimes, or formatting timestamps in ISO 8601 representations.

Examples: utcfromtimestamp(0) yields 1970-01-01 00:00:00, and utcfromtimestamp(1680000000.123) yields the corresponding UTC time with sub-second precision.