Combining two Unix timestamps into a single value

Looking for a way to condense a date range into GET parameters for my application, I pondered the possibility of encoding two Unix timestamps into a single parameter to minimize URL length.

While a basic CSV of two timestamps would suffice, my aim is to further reduce the URL size.

Additionally, it should be noted that this method must also cater to cases where only one date (the start date) is provided, in which the end date would default to today.

Answer №1

Let's explore some innovative strategies to handle timestamps:

  • Consider storing two timestamps as a pair if they are close together. For example, 1361666257,86400 could represent now and tomorrow.

  • Opt for hexadecimal (base 16) representation instead of base 10, like 512960d1.

  • If timestamps always refer to dates, storing them as days since the epoch by dividing by 86400 and discarding the remainder can be beneficial. Today, for instance, is day 15760.

You can also combine these approaches: 3d90,1

Answer №2

To optimize the length of URLs, consider creating your own unique "timestamp" format that allows you to customize the granularity and offset according to your specific requirements.

For instance, if the dates you are working with typically revolve around the current date and require only the date without the time, you could represent them as the number of days in the past rather than the number of seconds since 1970 like in the UNIX timestamp system.

Below is a comparison between a date range displayed using Unix timestamps and the alternative method:

Date range: 2012-09-21 to 2013-01-10
Timestamp:  1348178400_1357772400
Days in past:   156_45

I used the underscore _ to separate the from and to components, as the hyphen - is reserved for dates preceding 1970 or future dates in the UNIX system, but not in my custom encoding.

This is only a demonstration. You should devise an encoding method that meets the specific requirements of your application. For example, for a narrow date range, you could represent it as a date along with a specific increment, whether in days, months, or even years, depending on your particular needs.

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