C# strange with DateTime

Question

I got some strange result for:

Console.WriteLine(new DateTime(1296346155).ToString());

Result is:

01.01.0001 0:02:09

But it is not right!

I parsed value 1296346155 from some file. It said that it is in UTC;

Please explain;)

Thank you for help!)))

It may be a Unix time. Try this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/249760/how-to-convert-unix-timestamp-to-datetime-and-vice-versa — Kobi, Apr 12 '11 at 10:31
What was some file? I am guessing it was in WIN32 FileTime which uses January 1, 1601 (UTC) as its offset, not Jan 1, 0001. — Nic Strong, Apr 12 '11 at 10:32

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

5

DateTime expects "A date and time expressed in the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have elapsed since January 1, 0001 at 00:00:00.000 in the Gregorian calendar." (from msdn)

This question shows how you can convert a unix timestamp to a DateTime.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

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answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:30

Twelve47

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score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:29

4

The constructor for DateTime that accept long type is expecting ticks value, not seconds or even milliseconds, and not from 1/1/1970 like in other languages.

So 1296346155 ticks is 129 seconds.

answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:29

Shadow The GPT Wizard

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Which is 2 minutes and 9 Seconds :-) – Security Hound Apr 12 '11 at 14:24

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:35

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If it's Unix time, then the following should yield the expected result;

DateTime baseTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0);
Console.WriteLine(baseTime.AddSeconds(1296346155));

See Unix Time for more information.

answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:35

Chris McAtackney

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score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:36

That constructor is not what you want as the time is not measured in ticks.

DateTime start = new DateTime(1970,1,1,0,0,0,0);
start = start.AddSeconds(1296346155).ToLocalTime();
Console.WriteLine(start);  
// You don't need to use ToString() in a Console.WriteLine call

Rob Levine · Answer 5 · 2011-04-12T10:43:31.780

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That is correct - what were you expecting it to be and why?

The constructor System.DateTime(Int64) takes the number of 100-nanosecond intervals (known as Ticks) since January 1st 0001 (in the Gregorian calendar).

Therefore, 1296346155 / 10000000 gives you the number of seconds, which is 129.6.

Therefore, this should display 2 minutes and 9 seconds since midnight on 1st January 0001.

edited Apr 12 '11 at 10:43

answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:31

Rob Levine

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score 2 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

2

Ive found the following subject where there is a conversion between unix timestamp (the one you have) and .Net DateTime

How to convert a Unix timestamp to DateTime and vice versa?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Community

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answered Apr 12 '11 at 10:31

Yet Another Geek

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C# strange with DateTime

6 Answers6