Unlike other programming languages, Python doesn’t allow to directly work with Date objects. In order to work with date and time objects, you have to import a module called datetime in Python. This Python datetime module holds different classes to work with dates or to manipulate dates and times.
Use the following statement to import datetime module in Python programming language..
import datetime
The basic syntax behind this Python datetime is as shown below
datetime.datetime(Year_Number, Month_Number, Day_Number, Hours, Minutes, Seconds)
In this article, we will show you, how to import datetime in Python, work with date and time objects, format datetime, timedelta with practical examples.
Python datetime examples
Before we get into the examples, let me show you the list of available methods in this Python datetime module. For this, you have to use datetime as the dir function argument.
# datetime Example import datetime print(dir(datetime))
OUTPUT
The MAXYEAR returns the maximum(highest) year supported by the datetime module i.e., 9999. MINYEAR returns the smallest allowed year i.e., 1.
import datetime
print('Maximum Year = ', datetime.MAXYEAR)
print('Minimum Year = ', datetime.MINYEAR) OUTPUT
The following datetime example uses the today method to returns the current date.
import datetime
dt = datetime.date.today()
print('Today\'s Date = ', dt)OUTPUT
Python datetime class
This class has an attributes of year, month and day. Here, the first print statement extracts and returns the Year from current date. The later two print statement returns Month number and Day.
import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
print('Today\'s Date = ', today)
print('Year from Today\'s Date = ', today.year)
print('Month from Today\'s Date = ', today.month)
print('Day from Today\'s Date = ', today.day)OUTPUT
Python datetime now
The datetime module has now function, which returns the current date and time.
import datetime
dt = datetime.datetime.now()
print(dt)
print('Today\'s Date and Time = ', dt)OUTPUT
Until now, we are using the import datetime and that was the reason we are using datetim.datetime.method_name. However, if we use from datetime import datetime, we can get rid of that extra datetime.
In this example, we are using the date and time functions available in Python datetime to extract and return date, time from current date & time.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime.now()
print('Date and time = ', dt)
print('Current Date = ', dt.date())
print('Current Time = ', dt.time())OUTPUT
Python datetime class attributes
This example returns the Year from current date and time.
import datetime
dt = datetime.datetime.now()
print('Today\'s Date and Time = ', dt)
print('Calendar Year = ', dt.year)OUTPUT
This example displays the list of all the available attributes in Python datetime class. They are Year, Month, Day of Month, hour, minute, second, microsecond and weekday.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime.now()
print('Date = ', dt)
print('Year from Date = ', dt.year)
print('Month from Date = ', dt.month)
print('Day from Date = ', dt.day)
print('Hour from Date = ', dt.hour)
print('Minute from Date = ', dt.minute)
print('Second from Date = ', dt.second)
print('Microsecond from Date = ', dt.microsecond)
print('Weekday Number from Date = ', dt.weekday())OUTPUT
The Python datetime module has the time class, which is used to work or manipulate time values. Here, we used the time class to written the time from current ate and time. Next, we used the print statement to return the time parts using the available attributes hour, minute, second, and microsecond
from datetime import datetime
time = datetime.time(datetime.now())
print('Current Time = ', time)
print('Hour from Current Time = ', time.hour)
print('Minute from Current Time = ', time.minute)
print('Second from Current Time = ', time.second)
print('Microsecond from Current Time = ', time.microsecond)OUTPUT
Python isoformat
The Python datetime class has the isoformat, which returns a string representation of date in ISO 8601 format of YYYY-MM-DD
from datetime import datetime print(datetime.now()) print(datetime.now().isoformat())
OUTPUT
In all our previous examples, we are working with current date and time using now or today. However, you can use the date function to create a custom date. In this example, we are using the custom date and returning it in iso format.
from datetime import date dt = date(2018, 1, 31) print(dt) print(dt.isoformat())
OUTPUT
Create Date and Time using Python datetime module
In this example, we are using the datetime function to create a custom date. This function accepts year, month, day, hour, minute, second and microsecond. Here, we used the first three to create a custom date
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime(2017, 12, 31)
print('Date and Time = ', dt)OUTPUT
This is an another example to create custom date using the datetime function.
import datetime
dt = datetime.datetime(2018, 12, 31)
print('Date and Time = ', dt)
dte = datetime.date(2018, 12, 31)
print('Date = ', dte)OUTPUT
The first statement create a custom date and time with zero hours. The second one creates a custom date and time. The third statement creates a custom date and time along with microseconds.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime(2014, 12, 31)
print('Date and Time = ', dt)
dt2 = datetime(2014, 12, 31, 22, 33, 44)
print('Date and Time = ', dt2)
dt3 = datetime(2016, 12, 31, 22, 33, 44, 123456)
print('Date and Time = ', dt3)OUTPUT
Python timestamp function
The Python timestamp function return the POSIX timestamp of the given datetime. Here, we are returning the timestamp of current date and time.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime.now()
print('Today\'s Date = ', dt)
print('Timestamp = ', dt.timestamp())OUTPUT
Python utcfromtimestamp
The Python utcfromtimestamp method retune the UTC datetime from the given timestamp.
from datetime import datetime
tm_stamp = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(123456789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp)
tm_stamp2 = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(482056789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp2)
tm_stamp3 = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(19023456789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp3)
tm_stamp4 = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(12761456789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp4)OUTPUT
Python datetime replace
The Python replace function replaces the date and time parts with new values. The syntax of this Python datetime replace is
datetime.repalce(year = self.year, month = self.month, day = self.day, hour = self.hour, minute = self.minute, second = self.second, microsecond = self.microsecond, tzinfo = self.tzinfo)
In this example, we are replace hours, minutes, sends and microseconds from the current date and time.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime.now()
print('Date and Time = ', dt)
date_replace = dt.replace(hour = 2)
print('Date and Time = ', date_replace)
date_replace2 = dt.replace(minute = 59)
print('Date and Time = ', date_replace2)
date_replace3 = dt.replace(second = 4)
print('Date and Time = ', date_replace3)
date_replace4 = dt.replace(microsecond = 7)
print('Date and Time = ', date_replace4)OUTPUT
The following are list of all the other attributes and functions available in Python datetime class.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime.now()
print('Date and Time = ', dt)
print('Replace in Date = ', dt.replace(hour = 2))
print('Tzinfo from Date = ', dt.tzinfo)
print('Tzname from Date = ', dt.tzname())
print('Timetz from Date = ', dt.timetz())
print('Timestamp from Date = ', dt.timestamp())
print('Time from Date = ', dt.ctime())
print('isoweekday from Date = ', dt.isoweekday())
print('astimezone from Date = ', dt.astimezone())
print('utcoffset from Date = ', dt.utcoffset())
print('Daylight Saving from Date = ', dt.dst())OUTPUT
Python datetime combine
The Python combine function returns a new datetime object by combining the given date value and time. The syntax of this Python combine is
datetime.combine(date, time, tzinfo = self.tzinfo)
In this example, first we declared a custom date and a custom time. Next, we used the Python combine function to combine those objects and return the date and time. From that date and time, we are returning date and time parts using the available attributes.
import datetime
dt = datetime.date(2018, 12, 31)
tm = datetime.time(23, 59, 58)
combine_dt = datetime.datetime.combine(dt, tm)
print('Date = ', dt)
print('Time = ', tm)
print('Date and Time = ', combine_dt)
print('Year = ', combine_dt.year)
print('Month = ', combine_dt.month)
print('Day = ', combine_dt.day)
print('Hour = ', combine_dt.hour)
print('Minute = ', combine_dt.minute)
print('Second = ', combine_dt.second)
print('Microsecond = ', combine_dt.microsecond)OUTPUT
This example also uses the combine function to combines the date and time. However, this time we are not providing the seconds value.
import datetime
dt = datetime.date(2018, 12, 31)
tm = datetime.time(23, 0)
combine_dt = datetime.datetime.combine(dt, tm)
print('Date = ', dt)
print('Time = ', tm)
print('Date and Time = ', combine_dt)OUTPUT
Python datetime Date class
The python datetime module has the date class, which is used to manipulate or work with dates. This example uses today() method to return the current date.
from datetime import date
dt = date.today()
print('Today\'s Date = ', dt)OUTPUT
The Python date class in the datetime module has three important attributes.
- date.min: It return the earliest or minimum representable date.
- date.max: It return the latest or maximum representable date.
- date.resolution: It return the smallest possible difference between continues dates.
from datetime import date
print('Minimum Date = ', date.min)
print('Maximum Date = ', date.max)
print('Resolution = ', date.resolution)OUTPUT
Python date class attributes
This example shows the list of date attributes available in python. Here, year attribute returns the year from current date, month = month number, day = day of month and weekday = weekday
from datetime import date
dt = date.today()
print('Today\'s Date = ', dt)
print('Year from Current Date = ', dt.year)
print('Month from Current Date = ', dt.month)
print('Day from Current Date = ', dt.day)
print('Weekday Number = ', dt.weekday())OUTPUT
Create date using Python date
The Python date class in the datetime module has the date function to create a custom date from year, month and day of month.
from datetime import date
dt = date(2018, 1, 31)
print('Date = ', dt)OUTPUT
The Python fromtimestamp function accepts the POSIX timestamp value as an argument, and returns the date from it. The following examples show you the same.
from datetime import date
tm_stamp = date.fromtimestamp(123456789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp)
tm_stamp2 = date.fromtimestamp(412056789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp2)
tm_stamp3 = date.fromtimestamp(9123456789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp3)
tm_stamp4 = date.fromtimestamp(8761456789)
print('Date = ', tm_stamp4)OUTPUT
Python datetime Time class
The python datetime module has the time class, which helps us to work with time and manipulate them. This example uses time() method to return 00:00:00
from datetime import time
tt = time()
print('Time = ', tt)OUTPUT
The Python time class in the datetime module has the following three important attributes.
- time.min: It return the earliest or minimum representable time.
- time.max: It return the latest or maximum representable time.
- time.resolution: It return the smallest possible difference between time.
from datetime import time
print('Minimum Time = ', time.min)
print('Maximum Time = ', time.max)
print('Resolution = ', time.resolution)OUTPUT
Create Time using Python time
Here, we are using the time function to construct or create a time with 10 hours, 22 minutes and 33 seconds
from datetime import time
tt = time(10, 22, 33)
print('Time = ', tt)OUTPUT
This Python time example is an extension of the above example. Here, we are using the microseconds and the argument names as well.
from datetime import datetime, time
tme = datetime.time(datetime.now())
print('Current Time = ', tme)
tt = time()
print('Time = ', tt)
tt1 = time(10, 22, 45)
print('Time = ', tt1)
tt2 = time(11, 34, 49, 890765)
print('Time = ', tt2)
tt3 = time(hour = 17, minute = 11, second = 33)
print('Time = ', tt3)
tt4 = time(hour = 17, minute = 22, second = 55, microsecond = 223344)
print('Time = ', tt4)OUTPUT
Python time attributes
This example shows the list of available time attributes in python. Here, hour attribute returns the Hour from a given time, minute, second and microsecond
from datetime import time
tt = time(10, 50, 33)
print('Time = ', tt)
print('Hours = ', tt.hour)
print('Minutes = ', tt.minute)
print('Seconds = ', tt.second)
print('Microseconds = ', tt.microsecond)OUTPUT
Python timedelta
The timedelta function in datetime module is useful to predict or return the past and future dates. In this example, we are returning the date and time after one year, and before two years. I suggest you to refer to Python timedelta to understand everything about this function.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
dt = datetime.now()
print('Date and Time = ', dt)
future_dt = dt + timedelta(days = 365)
print('Future Date and Time = ', future_dt)
past_dt = dt - timedelta(days = 730)
print('Past Date and Time = ', past_dt)OUTPUT
Python strftime
The strftime function in Python datetime module formats the date in the specified format, and return the date as string. Here, %Y-%m-%d’ means Year-Month-Day (2019-01-31). I suggest you to refer to Python strftime to understand this function.
from datetime import datetime
dt = datetime.now()
print('Date and Time = ', dt)
dt2 = dt.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
print('Date and Time = ', dt2)
dt3 = dt.strftime('%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S %p')
print('Date and Time = ', dt3)
dt4 = dt.strftime('%B %d, %Y %I-%M-%S %p')
print('Date and Time = ', dt4)OUTPUT
Python strptime
The strptime is helpful to convert the string representation of date to a regular date and time. Here, datetime.strptime(dt_str, ‘%d %B %Y’) means string date is passes in Day Month_Name Year format. I suggest you to refer to Python strptime to understand this function.
from datetime import datetime
dt_str = '31 December 2017'
dt_value = datetime.strptime(dt_str, '%d %B %Y')
print('Date and Time = ', dt_value)
dt_str2 = '15/8/17 22:33:55'
dt_value2 = datetime.strptime(dt_str2, '%d/%m/%y %H:%M:%S')
print('Date and Time = ', dt_value2)OUTPUT
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