> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex-xdr-3.x/cortex-xdr-3.x-documentation/cortex-xdr-xql/functions/to_epoch.md).

# to\_epoch

**Syntax**

```programlisting
to_epoch (<timestamp>, <time unit>)
```

**Description**

The `to_epoch()` function converts a timestamp value for a particular field or function to the Unix epoch timestamp format. This function requires a `<time unit>` value, which indicates whether the integer value for the Unix epoch timestamp format represents seconds (default), milliseconds, or microseconds. If no `<time unit>` is configured, the default is used. Supported values are:

* SECONDS
* MILLIS
* MICROS

**Example**

Returns a maximum of 100 `xdr_data` records with the events of the `_time` field, which includes a timestamp field in the Unix epoch format called `ts`. The ts field contains the equivalent Unix epoch values in milliseconds for the timestamps listed in the `_time` field.

```programlisting
dataset = xdr_data
| filter _time != null
| alter ts = to_epoch(_time, "MILLIS")
| fields ts
| limit 100
```


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