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Python Datetime | strptime method

schedule Aug 12, 2023
Last updated
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Python
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Python's datetime.strptime() method converts a given string into a datetime object. strptime() is read as string parse time.

Parameters

1. date_string | string

The string to be converted into datetime object.

2. format | format code

The format of the string provided. Refer to the belowlink for list of valid format codes.

Return value

A datetime object.

Examples

Date string to datetime object

To convert the date string "19 March, 2020" to a datetime object:

from datetime import datetime

date_string = "19 March, 2020"
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%d %B, %Y")

print(date_object)
2020-03-19 00:00:00

Date and time string to datetime object

To convert the date and time string "Jan 1 2020 3:50PM" to a datetime object:

from datetime import datetime

datetime_string = 'Jan 1 2020 3:50PM'
datetime_object = datetime.strptime(datetime_string, '%b %d %Y %I:%M%p')

print(datetime_object)
2020-01-01 15:50:00

ValueError

A ValueError is raised if date_string (first argument) and the format (second argument) passed to strptime() do not match:

from datetime import datetime

datetime_object = datetime.strptime('Jan 1 2020 3:50PM', "%d %m %Y")

print(date_object)
ValueError: time data 'Jan 1 2020 3:50PM' does not match format '%d %m %Y'

The format should correctly be provided as '%b %d %Y %I:%M%p'.

List of Format Codes

The below tables provides information of the various directives used for expressing date formats:

Directive

Meaning

Example

%a

Weekday as locale’s abbreviated name.

Sun, Mon, …, Sat (en_US);

So, Mo, …, Sa (de_DE)

%A

Weekday as locale’s full name.

Sunday, Monday, …, Saturday (en_US);

Sonntag, Montag, …, Samstag (de_DE)

%w

Weekday as a decimal number, where 0 is Sunday and 6 is Saturday.

0, 1, …, 6

%d

Day of the month as a zero-padded decimal number.

01, 02, …, 31

%b

Month as locale’s abbreviated name.

Jan, Feb, …, Dec (en_US);

Jan, Feb, …, Dez (de_DE)

%B

Month as locale’s full name.

January, February, …, December (en_US);

Januar, Februar, …, Dezember (de_DE)

%m

Month as a zero-padded decimal number.

01, 02, …, 12

%y

Year without century as a zero-padded decimal number.

00, 01, …, 99

%Y

Year with century as a decimal number.

0001, 0002, …, 2013, 2014, …, 9998, 9999

%H

Hour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number.

00, 01, …, 23

%I

Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number.

01, 02, …, 12

%p

Locale’s equivalent of either AM or PM.

AM, PM (en_US);am, pm (de_DE)

%M

Minute as a zero-padded decimal number.

00, 01, …, 59

%S

Second as a zero-padded decimal number.

00, 01, …, 59

%f

Microsecond as a decimal number, zero-padded on the left.

000000, 000001, …, 999999

%z

UTC offset in the form ±HHMM[SS[.ffffff]] (empty string if the object is naive).

(empty), +0000, -0400, +1030, +063415, -030712.345216

%Z

Time zone name (empty string if the object is naive).

(empty), UTC, EST, CST

%j

Day of the year as a zero-padded decimal number.

001, 002, …, 366

%U

Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a zero padded decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0.

00, 01, …, 53

%W

Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0.

00, 01, …, 53

%c

Locale’s appropriate date and time representation.

Tue Aug 16 21:30:00 1988 (en_US);Di 16 Aug 21:30:00 1988 (de_DE)

%x

Locale’s appropriate date representation.

08/16/88 (None);08/16/1988 (en_US);16.08.1988 (de_DE)

%X

Locale’s appropriate time representation.

21:30:00 (en_US);21:30:00 (de_DE)

%%

A literal '%' character.

%

robocat
Published by Isshin Inada
Edited by 0 others
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