bear-epoch-time 1.2.11

Elegant epoch timestamp handling with timezone-aware operations, fluent API, and smart defaults for Python developers who hate datetime complexity.

Bear Epoch Time

A lightweight Python library for working with epoch timestamps. Bear Epoch Time provides timezone-aware conversion utilities and a fluent API for manipulating times without wrestling with datetime quirks.

Key Features:

• EpochTimestamp inherits from int - use it anywhere you'd use an integer
• Milliseconds by default (configurable to seconds)
• UTC-first with explicit timezone conversions
• Fluent, chainable API
• Full comparison support with datetime, date, time, int, and float

Requirements: Python 3.11+

Installation

Install from PyPI:

pip install bear-epoch-time
# or with uv
uv pip install bear-epoch-time

Quick Start

from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

# Current UTC timestamp in milliseconds
now = EpochTimestamp.now()
print(now)              # 1734567890123
print(now.to_seconds)   # 1734567890
print(now.date_str())   # "12-18-2025"

Creating Timestamps

From Various Sources

from datetime import datetime, date
from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

# Current time
now = EpochTimestamp.now()
now_in_seconds = EpochTimestamp.now(milliseconds=False)

# From datetime
dt = datetime(2025, 12, 25, 10, 30, 0)
ts = EpochTimestamp.from_datetime(dt)

# From date (creates timestamp at midnight)
d = date(2025, 12, 25)
ts = EpochTimestamp.from_date(d)

# From seconds
ts = EpochTimestamp.from_seconds(1734567890)

# From ISO string
ts = EpochTimestamp.from_iso_string("2025-12-25T10:30:00+00:00")

# From custom format string
ts = EpochTimestamp.from_dt_string("12-25-2025 10:30 AM", fmt="%m-%d-%Y %I:%M %p")

Time Arithmetic

Adding and Subtracting Time

from datetime import timedelta
from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

now = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Add time components
future = now.add(days=7, hours=3, minutes=30)

# Subtract time
past = now.subtract(days=1, hours=12)

# Use timedelta
delta = timedelta(weeks=2)
two_weeks_later = now.add(delta=delta)

# Use negative values for subtraction via add()
yesterday = now.add(days=-1)

Calculating Differences

ts1 = EpochTimestamp.now()
ts2 = ts1.add(days=5, hours=3)

# Get difference as int (milliseconds by default)
diff_ms = ts1.diff(ts2)

# Get difference in seconds
diff_s = ts1.diff(ts2, milliseconds=False)

# Get difference as timedelta
delta = ts1.diff(ts2, as_timedelta=True)

# Get difference in specific units
days = ts1.time_since(ts2, unit="d")      # days
hours = ts1.time_since(ts2, unit="h")     # hours
minutes = ts1.time_since(ts2, unit="m")   # minutes

Day Boundaries

import pytz
from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

now = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Get start/end of day (UTC by default)
start = now.start_of_day()
end = now.end_of_day()

# With specific timezone
pacific = pytz.timezone("America/Los_Angeles")
start_pacific = now.start_of_day(tz=pacific)
end_pacific = now.end_of_day(tz=pacific)

String Formatting

Output Formats

from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

ts = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Default formatted strings
ts.to_string()     # "12-18-2025 03:30 PM PST"
ts.date_str()      # "12-18-2025"
ts.time_str()      # "03:30 PM"

# Custom format
ts.to_string(fmt="%A, %B %d, %Y")  # "Thursday, December 18, 2025"

# Ordinal day format (special %Do code)
ts.to_string(fmt="%B %Do, %Y")     # "December 18th, 2025"

# ISO format
ts.to_iso                           # "2025-12-18T23:30:00+00:00"
ts.get_iso_string(sep=" ")          # "2025-12-18 23:30:00+00:00"

# Template formatting with $variables
ts.format("$month_name $day, $year")     # "December 18, 2025"
ts.format("$day_name at $time")          # "Thursday at 03:30 PM"

Available Template Variables

$epoch, $seconds, $milliseconds, $iso, $date, $time, $datetime, $year, $month, $day, $hour, $minute, $week, $isoweekday, $day_of_week, $day_of_year, $month_name, $day_name

Accessing Components

from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

ts = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Date components
ts.year          # 2025
ts.month         # 12
ts.day           # 18
ts.week          # ISO week number (1-53)

# Time components
ts.hour          # 15 (0-23)
ts.minute        # 30 (0-59)
ts.second        # 45 (0-59)
ts.microsecond   # 123456 (0-999999)

# Day information
ts.day_of_week   # 0-6 (Monday=0, Sunday=6)
ts.iso_weekday   # 1-7 (Monday=1, Sunday=7)
ts.day_of_year   # 1-366
ts.day_name      # "Thursday"
ts.month_name    # "December"

# Conversions
ts.to_datetime   # datetime object (UTC)
ts.to_seconds    # int (epoch seconds)
ts.to_milliseconds  # int (epoch milliseconds)
ts.date          # date object
ts.time          # time object
ts.to_iso        # ISO 8601 string
ts.to_duration   # "675M 28d 2h 12m 28s" (human-readable)

Replacing Components

Create a new timestamp with specific components changed:

from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

ts = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Change specific components
new_year = ts.replace(year=2026)
noon = ts.replace(hour=12, minute=0, second=0)
first_of_month = ts.replace(day=1)

Finding Future Times

from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

now = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Get next occurrence of a weekday
next_monday = now.next_weekday("Monday")
next_friday = now.next_weekday("friday")  # case-insensitive

# Get next occurrence of a specific time
next_9am = now.next_time_of_day(hour=9)
next_meeting = now.next_time_of_day(hour=14, minute=30)

Comparisons

EpochTimestamp supports comparison with multiple types:

from datetime import datetime, date, time
from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

ts = EpochTimestamp.now()

# Compare with other EpochTimestamp
ts1 < ts2
ts1 == ts2

# Compare with datetime
ts < datetime.now()

# Compare with date (compares date portion only)
ts == date.today()

# Compare with int/float (raw epoch value)
ts > 1734567890000

# Boolean evaluation (False if zero/placeholder)
if ts:
    print("Valid timestamp")

Class Configuration

Configure defaults for all instances:

import pytz
from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

# Set default timezone
EpochTimestamp.set_timezone(pytz.timezone("America/New_York"))

# Set default formats
EpochTimestamp.set_date_format("%Y-%m-%d")
EpochTimestamp.set_time_format("%H:%M:%S")
EpochTimestamp.set_full_format("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z")

# Set repr style: "int", "object", or "datetime"
EpochTimestamp.set_repr_style("datetime")

Placeholder Values

Use zero as a placeholder for "no timestamp set":

from bear_epoch_time import EpochTimestamp

placeholder = EpochTimestamp(0)

if placeholder.is_default:
    print("No timestamp set")

# Boolean evaluation also works
if not placeholder:
    print("No timestamp set")

TimeTools Helper

For common timezone-aware operations:

from bear_epoch_time import TimeTools, EpochTimestamp

tools = TimeTools()  # Uses local timezone

# Get start and end of today
start, end = tools.get_day_range()

# Check if timestamps are on the same day
tools.is_same_day(ts1, ts2)

# Check if a date range spans multiple days
tools.is_multi_day("12-18-2025 11:00 PM", "12-19-2025 01:00 AM")

# Quick conversions
tools.dt_to_ts(datetime_obj)
tools.str_to_ts("12-18-2025 03:30 PM")
tools.ts_to_str(timestamp)

TimeConverter Utilities

Parse and format time strings:

from bear_epoch_time import TimeConverter

# Parse duration strings to seconds
TimeConverter.parse_to_seconds("2d 3h 15m")      # 183300.0
TimeConverter.parse_to_seconds("1M 5d")          # ~35 days in seconds

# Format seconds as human-readable
TimeConverter.format_seconds(183300)             # "2d 3h 15m"
TimeConverter.format_seconds(90061.5, show_subseconds=True)  # "1d 1h 1m 1s 500ms"

Timer Utilities

Context managers and decorators for timing:

from bear_epoch_time import timer, create_timer, TimerData

# Context manager
with timer(name="my_operation", console=print) as t:
    # do work
    pass
print(f"Took {t.seconds:.2f}s")

# Decorator factory
@create_timer(console=print)
def my_function():
    pass

# Async support
from bear_epoch_time import async_timer, create_async_timer

async with async_timer(name="async_op") as t:
    await some_async_work()

Limitations

The EpochTimestamp class is designed for UTC timestamps in the recent past and future. It is not intended for:

• Historical dates before the Unix epoch (1970-01-01)
• High-precision timing (use time.perf_counter() instead)
• Dates far in the future where leap second handling becomes significant

This is a utility library for working with epoch timestamps in a more human-friendly way.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.