python datetime to float with millisecond precision

In Python 3 you can use: timestamp (and fromtimestamp for the inverse).

Example:

>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> now = datetime.now()
>>> now.timestamp()
1455188621.063099
>>> ts = now.timestamp()
>>> datetime.fromtimestamp(ts)
datetime.datetime(2016, 2, 11, 11, 3, 41, 63098)

Python 2:

def datetime_to_float(d):
    epoch = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(0)
    total_seconds =  (d - epoch).total_seconds()
    # total_seconds will be in decimals (millisecond precision)
    return total_seconds

def float_to_datetime(fl):
    return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(fl)

---

Python 3:

def datetime_to_float(d):
    return d.timestamp()

The python 3 version of float_to_datetime will be no different from the python 2 version above.