How to convert a cassandra date object into epoch timestamp in java

Question

I am creating a java plugin for moving data from cassandra database to elastic search. I am getting all the data but the date which I am getting from the database is in human readable form ie Row[Fri Jul 25 11:36:10 IST 2014].I want this to be converted to epoch timestamp format like 1414386721.

Answer 1

I do not know Cassandra DB, but according to this doc your driver should be translating the date-time value in Cassandra to a java.util.Date object in Java.

You may be confused about how a java.util.Date object works. The j.u.Date class is confusing and difficult in many ways, one of which is that while a Date has no time zone its toString implementation on-the-fly applies the JVM’s current default time zone as it generates the string.

You may also be new to date-time work and therefore confusing a date-time object with its String representation. Consider that 1.4 is a number and should not be confused with its representation as a String in the format of a price €1.40. Likewise a date-time object is not a String but can be represented as a String generated any number of formats.

Lastly, if you are indeed getting a java.util.Date object, learn to convert that to either the Joda-Time library or the java.time library. The java.util.Date and .Calendar classes are notoriously troublesome.