This article entitle Python Date Time is a continuation of the previous article entitled Python Dictionary.
Python DateTime is a module that can be used on working with dates and times. This module provides different classes for the representation and manipulation of dates and times and for parsing and formatting dates and times into different formats.
How to get date time in Python?
The DateTime module can be used to get the current date and time in Python and with the use of datetime.now() function for creating a DateTime object that contains the current DateTime.
Example
import datetime # get the current date and time datetimenow = datetime.datetime.now() print(datetimenow)
Output
2022-12-28 01:49:45.845737
How to get the current Date in Python?
To get the current date we have to use the method name today() which is defined on the date class to get the dates object that contains the local current date.
Example
import datetime # get current date currentDate = datetime.date.today() print(currentDate)
Output
2022-12-28
How to get all the attributes of datetime module?
To get the list of all attributes of datetime module we can use the dir() function.
Example
import datetime print(dir(datetime))
Output
['MAXYEAR', 'MINYEAR', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__spec__', 'date', 'datetime', 'datetime_CAPI', 'sys', 'time', 'timedelta', 'timezone', 'tzinfo']
The following lists are the most commonly used classes of the datetime module.
- datetime.time – This function represents the date (year, month, and day) without the time.
- datetime.time – This function represents the time (hour, minute, second, and microsecond) without the date.
- datetime.datetime – This function represents a single point in time, which also includes the date and time.
- datetime.timedelta – This function represents the duration that can be used to perform arithmetic with datetime objects.
datetime.date class in Python
We can get the date objects from a date class in Python and the date objects will represent the date (year, month, and day).
Date object to represent a date in Python
The date() is the constructor of the local date class and these constructors get the three arguments such as the year, month, and day.
Example
import datetime date = datetime.date(2022, 12, 28) print(date)
Output
2022-12-28
Import only the date class in Python
In Python, we can import only a date class from the module name datetime.
Example
from datetime import date date = date(2022, 12, 28) print(date)
Output
2022-12-28
How to get the current date using today() function in Python
The today() method is most commonly used to get the current date and print today.
Example
from datetime import date
# today() to get current date
todaysDate = date.today()
print("Date today =", todaysDate)Output
Date today = 2022-12-28
How to get the date from a timestamp in Python
The timestamp is also used to create date objects, further, a UNIX timestamp is a number of seconds that is between the particular date and January 1, 1970, at UTC and you can convert the timestamp to the date with the use of the method named fromtimestamp().
Example
from datetime import date
timestamp = date.fromtimestamp(1326244364)
print("Date =", timestamp)Output
Date = 2012-01-11
How to print the current year, month, and day in Python
To get the current year, month, and day from the given date object can be done simply.
Example
from datetime import date
# date object of today's date
today = date.today()
print("The current year is", today.year)
print("The current month is", today.month)
print("The current day is", today.day)Output
The current year is 2022 The current month is 12 The current day is 28
datetime.time class in Python
The time object is instantiated from a time module class that represents the local time zone.
Object time to represent a time
Example
from datetime import time # time(hour = 0, minute = 0, second = 0) timeA = time() print(timeA) # time(hour, minute and second) timeB = time(12, 24, 16) print(timeB) # time(hour, minute and second) timeC = time(hour = 10, minute = 45, second = 16) print(timeC) # time(hour, minute, second, microsecond) timeD = time(10, 45, 16, 234566) print(timeD)
Output
00:00:00 12:24:16 10:45:16 10:45:16.234566
Display hour, minute, second, and microsecond
For instance, if we want to create a time object we can easily display all the attributes such as an hour, minute, and second.
Example
from datetime import time
t = time(10, 23, 43)
print("Hour =", t.hour)
print("Minute =", t.minute)
print("Second =", t.second)
print("Microsecond =", t.microsecond)Output
Hour = 10 Minute = 23 Second = 43 Microsecond = 0
datetime.datetime class in Python
The datetime module has also a class named datetime which contains all the information about the object’s date and time interval.
datetime object in Python
The following program takes the first three arguments year, month, and day in the function datetime() and the constructor is mandatory.
Example
from datetime import datetime # datetime(year, month, day) timeA = datetime(2022, 12, 28) print(timeA) # datetime(year, month, day, hour, minute, second, microsecond) timeB = datetime(2022, 12, 28, 23, 55, 59, 342380) print(timeB)
Output
2022-12-28 00:00:00 2022-12-28 23:55:59.342380
Display year, month, hour, minute, and timestamp
Example
from datetime import datetime
dateTime = datetime(2022, 12, 28, 12, 30, 59, 342380)
print("Year =", dateTime.year)
print("Month =", dateTime.month)
print("Hour =", dateTime.hour)
print("Minute =", dateTime.minute)
print("Timestamp =", dateTime.timestamp())Output
Year = 2022 Month = 12 Hour = 12 Minute = 30 Timestamp = 1672230659.34238
datetime.timedelta class in Python
A timedelta is an object that represents the difference between the two dates and times.
Example
from datetime import datetime, date
# using date()
time1 = date(year = 2022, month = 12, day = 28)
time2 = date(year = 2021, month = 10, day = 15)
time3 = time1 - time2
print("time3 =", time3)
# using datetime()
time4 = datetime(year = 2022, month = 12, day = 28, hour = 8, minute = 19, second = 24)
time5 = datetime(year = 2021, month = 3, day = 7, hour = 4, minute = 34, second = 23)
time6 = time4 - time5
print("time6 =", time6)
print("Type of time3 =", type(time3))
print("Type of time6 =", type(time6)) Output
time3 = 439 days, 0:00:00 time6 = 661 days, 3:45:01 Type of time3 = <class 'datetime.timedelta'> Type of time6 = <class 'datetime.timedelta'>
Difference between two timedelta objects in Python
Example
from datetime import timedelta
time1 = timedelta(weeks = 3, days = 6, hours = 2, seconds = 22)
time2 = timedelta(days = 2, hours = 5, minutes = 3, seconds = 34)
time3 = time1 - time2
print("time3 =", time3)Output
time3 = 24 days, 20:56:48
Time duration in seconds in Python
The total_seconds() is a method that can get the total number of seconds in the object timedelta.
Example
from datetime import timedelta
time = timedelta(days = 6, hours = 3, seconds = 22, microseconds = 434343)
print("Total seconds =", time.total_seconds())Output
Total seconds = 529222.434343
Format datetime in Python
The date and time are a way that is represented in different places, organizations, and so on. The most common use date and time format is mm/dd/yyyy in the United States while in the United Kingdom is dd/mm/yyyy.
- strftime()
- strptime()
strftime() method in Python
The strftime() is a method that is defined under the class date, time, and datetime. This method creates a string formatted from the date given object datetime or time.
Example
from datetime import datetime
# current date and time
now = datetime.now()
time = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
print("Time:", time)
strf1 = now.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S")
# mm/dd/YY H:M:S format
print("String Format One:", strf1)
strf2 = now.strftime("%d/%m/%Y, %H:%M:%S")
# dd/mm/YY H:M:S format
print("String Format Two:", strf2)Output
Time: 06:44:27 String Format One: 12/28/2022, 06:44:27 String Format Two: 28/12/2022, 06:44:27
strptime() method in Python
The strptime() is a method that can be used to create an object datetime from a string given that represents date and time.
Example
from datetime import datetime
stringDate = "28 December, 2022"
print("stringDate =", stringDate)
# use strptime() to create date object
objectDate = datetime.strptime(stringDate, "%d %B, %Y")
print("objectDate =", objectDate)Output
stringDate = 28 December, 2022 objectDate = 2022-12-28 00:00:00
Python handling timezone
For instance that we are working on a project and we need to display the date and time that is based on their timezone.
Example
from datetime import datetime
import pytz
local = datetime.now()
print("Local:", local.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S"))
us = pytz.timezone('America/New_York')
datetimeUs = datetime.now(us)
print("New York:", datetimeUs.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S"))
uk = pytz.timezone('Europe/London')
datetimeUk = datetime.now(uk)
print("London:", datetimeUk.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S"))Output
Local: 12/28/2022, 06:58:39 New York: 12/28/2022, 01:58:39 London: 12/28/2022, 06:58:39
Summary
In summary, you have read about Python Date Time. We also discussed in this article how to get date time in Python, how to get the current date, how to get all the attributes of datetime module, datetime.date class.
Along with is datetime object, display year, month, hour, minute, and timestamp, datetime.timedelta class, difference between two timedelta objects, time duration in seconds, and handling timezone.
I hope this article could help you a lot to continue pursuing learning this powerful programming language.
If you want to learn more check out my previous and latest articles for more career-changing articles.