Get current time in seconds since the Epoch on Linux, Bash

Question

I need something simple like date, but in seconds since 1970 instead of the current date, hours, minutes, and seconds.

date doesn\'t seem t

Answer 1

So far, all the answers use the external program date.

Since Bash 4.2, printf has a new modifier %(dateformat)T that, when used with argument -1 outputs the current date with format given by dateformat, handled by strftime(3) (man 3 strftime for informations about the formats).

So, for a pure Bash solution:

printf '%(%s)T\n' -1

or if you need to store the result in a variable var:

printf -v var '%(%s)T' -1

No external programs and no subshells!

Since Bash 4.3, it's even possible to not specify the -1:

printf -v var '%(%s)T'

(but it might be wiser to always give the argument -1 nonetheless).

If you use -2 as argument instead of -1, Bash will use the time the shell was started instead of the current date. This can be used to compute elapsed times

$ printf -v beg '%(%s)T\n' -2
$ printf -v now '%(%s)T\n' -1
$ echo beg=$beg now=$now elapsed=$((now-beg))
beg=1583949610 now=1583953032 elapsed=3422