In the python shell if I type:
import time
time.time()
I get the current time in seconds with 5 digits past the decimal place of accuracy:
1263245893.382139
If I want to use this as a unique ID then I need to have this value as a string. Namely I need to be able to print it. But if I issue:
print time.time()
I only get 2 digits of accuracy past the decimal place:
1263245893.38
This seems to be because print when converting the time to a string is rounding its float value someplace. To solve this I use instead:
print "%f" % time.time()
Which again returns all of the accuracy places I original had:
1263245893.382139
Finally to save this value as a string I just remove the print and instead have a variable on the left hand side of an equals sign:
current_time = "%f" % time.time()
Tags: float, floating point number, python, string, time