Python strftime

The Python strftime function is one of the datetime module and time module function. This Python strftime function helps you to format the given dates into the required string format.

The syntax of the Python strftime function in the datetime module is 

datetime_Object_Value.strftime(Directives)

The syntax of the Python strftime function in the time module is 

time.strftime(Directives, time_object_value)

The following table shows the list of available directives and their descriptions in Python strftime function.

Directives	Description	Example Output
%a	Short Version of Weekday	Wed
%A	Full Version of Weekday	Wednesday
%b	Short Version of Month Name	Jan
%B	Full Version of Month Name	January
%c	Local Version of Date and Time	Thu May 23 10:35:32 2019
%d	Day Number of a Month 01 to 31	23
%f	Microseconds 000000 to 999999	965060
%H	Hours 00 to 23	15
%I	Hours 00 to 12	10
%j	Day Number of the Year 001 to 366	320
%m	Month as a Number 01 to 12	05
%M	Minutes from 00 to 59	35
%p	AM or PM	AM
%S	Seconds from 00 to 59	32
%U	Week Number of the Year from 00 to 53, where First Day of the Week = Sunday	20
%w	Weekday as a Number from 0 to 6, Where 0 = Sunday	4
%W	Week Number of the Year from 00 to 53, where First Day of the Week = Monday	20
%x	Local Version of Date	05/23/19
%X	Local Version of Time	10:35:32
%y	Short Version of Year	19
%Y	Full Version of the Year	2019
%z	UTC Offset
%Z	Timezone
%%	A % character	%

Python strftime Examples

In this example, we are using the strftime function to return the local version of Date, Time, and DateTime of the current date and time.

# Python strftime Example
from datetime import datetime
 
dt = datetime.now()
 
print('Current Date and Time          = ', dt)
 
print('Local Version of Date and Time = ', dt.strftime('%c'))
print('Local Version of Date          = ', dt.strftime('%x'))
print('Local Version of Time          = ', dt.strftime('%X'))

OUTPUT

Here, we use the strftime to return the Year, Month name, and Day Number from the current date.

from datetime import datetime
 
dt = datetime.now()
 
print('Current Date and Time = ', dt)
 
print('Current Year          = ', dt.strftime('%Y'))
print('Month Name            = ', dt.strftime('%B'))
print('Day Number            = ', dt.strftime('%d')) 

OUTPUT

This Python example returns Year, Month name, Month Number, Day Number, etc., from today’s date and time.

from datetime import datetime
 
dt = datetime.now()
 
print('Current Date and Time    = ', dt)
print('Year in Short            = ', dt.strftime('%y'))
print('Year                     = ', dt.strftime('%Y'))
print('Month Name in Short      = ', dt.strftime('%b'))
print('Month Name               = ', dt.strftime('%B'))
print('Month Number             = ', dt.strftime('%m'))
print('Day Number of the Month  = ', dt.strftime('%d'))
print('Day Number of the Year   = ', dt.strftime('%j'))
print('Week Number of Year      = ', dt.strftime('%W'))
print('Short Version of Weekday = ', dt.strftime('%a'))
print('Full Version of Weekday  = ', dt.strftime('%A'))
print('Weekday as a Number      = ', dt.strftime('%w'))

OUTPUT

Let me use this Python strftime to return the Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Microseconds, AM or PM from current DateTime.

from datetime import datetime
 
dt = datetime.now()
 
print('Current Date and Time = ', dt)
print('Hours                 = ', dt.strftime('%H'))
print('Hours                 = ', dt.strftime('%I'))
print('Minutes               = ', dt.strftime('%M'))
print('Seconds               = ', dt.strftime('%S'))
print('Microseconds          = ', dt.strftime('%f'))
print('AM or PM              = ', dt.strftime('%p'))

OUTPUT

In this example, we are using all the available directives in one example. This might helps you to see all of them in one place.

from datetime import datetime
 
dt = datetime.now()
 
print('Today\'s Date and Time             = ', dt)
 
print('Local Version of Date and Time     = ', dt.strftime('%c'))
print('Local Version of Date              = ', dt.strftime('%x'))
print('Local Version of Time              = ', dt.strftime('%X'))
 
print('Short Version of the Year          = ', dt.strftime('%y'))
print('Full Version of the Year           = ', dt.strftime('%Y'))
 
print('Short Version of Month Name        = ', dt.strftime('%b'))
print('Full Version of Month Name         = ', dt.strftime('%B'))
print('Month Number from 01 to 12         = ', dt.strftime('%m'))
 
print('Day Number of the Month from 01-31 = ', dt.strftime('%d'))
print('Day Number of Year from 001 to 366 = ', dt.strftime('%j'))
 
print('Week Number of Year from 00 to 53  = ', dt.strftime('%U'))
print('Week Number of Year from 00 to 53  = ', dt.strftime('%W'))
 
print('Short Version of Weekday           = ', dt.strftime('%a'))
print('Full Version of Weekday            = ', dt.strftime('%A'))
print('Weekday as a Number from 0 to 6    = ', dt.strftime('%w'))
 
print('Hours from 00 to 23 (24hr Format)  = ', dt.strftime('%H'))
print('Hours from 00 to 12 (12hr Format)  = ', dt.strftime('%I'))
print('Minutes from 00 to 59              = ', dt.strftime('%M'))
print('Seconds from 00 to 59              = ', dt.strftime('%S'))
print('Microseconds from 000000 to 999999 = ', dt.strftime('%f'))
print('AM or PM                           = ', dt.strftime('%p'))
print('% Charcter                         = ', dt.strftime('%%'))

OUTPUT

Python strftime to format DateTime

So far, we are using one directive to return one part of the Date. However, Python strftime is very useful to format the date and time in the required format. This example returns the current date and time in Year/month/day Hour:Minute: Second AM/PM.

import datetime
 
dt = datetime.datetime.now()
 
print('Current Date and Time  = ', dt)
 
print('Current Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S %p'))

OUTPUT

Let me show you a few more Python strftime formatting options.

from datetime import datetime
 
dt = datetime.now()
 
print('Current Date and Time    = ', dt)
 
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%Y/%M/%d %H:%M:%S %p'))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S'))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%m-%d-%Y %H:%M:%S'))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %I:%M:%S %p'))
 
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%Y, %B %d'))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%Y, %b %d'))
 
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%B %d %y'))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', dt.strftime('%B %d, %Y %I-%M-%S %p'))

OUTPUT

Python strftime in time Module

You can also use the time library to use this strftime. Here, we used the strftime function inside the time library.

import time
 
dt = time.localtime(1234567)
 
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', time.strftime('%Y/%M/%d %H:%M:%S %p', dt))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', time.strftime('%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S', dt))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %I:%M:%S %p', dt))
 
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', time.strftime('%I:%M:%S %p', dt))
print('Formatted Date and Time  = ', time.strftime('%I-%M-%S %p', dt))

OUTPUT