Epoch

time_epoch

Return the current Unix epoch in seconds. Selects the fastest available method at load time: EPOCHSECONDS (bash 5+ / zsh), printf %T (bash 4.2+), date, perl, or a portable pure-shell fallback.

Exit codes

  • 0: Always

Output on stdout

  • Current Unix epoch as an integer

time_epoch_in

Return the current Unix epoch expressed in a larger time unit.

Example

time_epoch_in days
time_epoch_in hours

Arguments

  • $1 (string): Unit: seconds, minutes, hours, or days

Exit codes

  • 0: Always
  • 1: Unrecognised unit

Output on stdout

  • Integer epoch value in the requested unit

time_ldaptime_to_epoch

Convert a Windows/LDAP 100-nanosecond interval timestamp to a Unix epoch. The LDAP timestamp counts 100ns intervals since 1 January 1601.

Example

time_ldaptime_to_epoch 132000000000000000   # => Unix epoch integer

Arguments

  • $1 (int): LDAP timestamp (100-nanosecond intervals since 1601-01-01)

Exit codes

  • 0: Always

Output on stdout

  • Unix epoch as an integer

time_date_to_epoch

Convert an SSL-style date/time string to a Unix epoch using perl. Intended for systems where date(1) does not support the -d flag. Expected input format: "Nov 10 2034 21:19:01"

Arguments

  • $1 (string): Month (e.g. Nov)
  • $2 (int): Day of month
  • $3 (int): Four-digit year
  • $4 (string): Time as HH:MM:SS

Exit codes

  • 0: Always
  • 1: perl not available

Output on stdout

  • Unix epoch integer

time_epoch_ms

Get the current Unix epoch in milliseconds. Uses date %3N (milliseconds) when available; falls back to seconds * 1000 for systems where %N is unsupported (e.g. macOS date).

Example

time_epoch_ms    # => 1710000000123

Exit codes

  • 0: Always

Output on stdout

  • Current epoch in milliseconds

time_sleep_until

Sleep until a given Unix epoch second (or epoch millisecond). If the target time is in the past, returns immediately. Pass --ms to treat the argument as milliseconds.

Example

time_sleep_until $(( $(date +%s) + 30 ))   # sleep ~30s from now
time_sleep_until --ms $(( $(time_epoch_ms) + 5000 ))

Options

  • [--ms] flag Treat $1 as epoch milliseconds rather than seconds

Arguments

  • $1 (int): Target epoch (seconds, or ms when --ms given)

Exit codes

  • 0: Awoke at or after target; 1 Bad argument