find time difference in seconds as an integer with python

Question

I need to find the time difference in seconds with python. I know I can get the difference like this:

from datetime import datetime
now = datetime.now()
....
....
....
later = datetime.now()
difference = later-now

how do I get difference in total seconds?

Answer 1

import time
now = time.time()
...
later = time.time()
difference = later - now

Answer 2

If all you need is to measure a time span, you may use time.time() function which returns seconds since Epoch as a floating point number.