Saltycrane logo

SaltyCrane Blog

Notes on Python, Django, and web development on Ubuntu Linux

    

Python datetime / time conversions

Date: 2008-11-12  |   Tags: datetime, python   |   4 Comments 
from datetime import datetime
import time

#-------------------------------------------------
# conversions to strings
#-------------------------------------------------
# datetime object to string
dt_obj = datetime(2008, 11, 10, 17, 53, 59)
date_str = dt_obj.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print date_str

# time tuple to string
time_tuple = (2008, 11, 12, 13, 51, 18, 2, 317, 0)
date_str = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", time_tuple)
print date_str

#-------------------------------------------------
# conversions to datetime objects
#-------------------------------------------------
# time tuple to datetime object
time_tuple = (2008, 11, 12, 13, 51, 18, 2, 317, 0)
dt_obj = datetime(*time_tuple[0:6])
print repr(dt_obj)

# date string to datetime object
date_str = "2008-11-10 17:53:59"
dt_obj = datetime.strptime(date_str, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print repr(dt_obj)

# timestamp to datetime object in local time
timestamp = 1226527167.595983
dt_obj = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)
print repr(dt_obj)

# timestamp to datetime object in UTC
timestamp = 1226527167.595983
dt_obj = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(timestamp)
print repr(dt_obj)

#-------------------------------------------------
# conversions to time tuples
#-------------------------------------------------
# datetime object to time tuple
dt_obj = datetime(2008, 11, 10, 17, 53, 59)
time_tuple = dt_obj.timetuple()
print repr(time_tuple)

# string to time tuple
date_str = "2008-11-10 17:53:59"
time_tuple = time.strptime(date_str, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print repr(time_tuple)

# timestamp to time tuple in UTC
timestamp = 1226527167.595983
time_tuple = time.gmtime(timestamp)
print repr(time_tuple)

# timestamp to time tuple in local time
timestamp = 1226527167.595983
time_tuple = time.localtime(timestamp)
print repr(time_tuple)

#-------------------------------------------------
# conversions to timestamps
#-------------------------------------------------
# time tuple in local time to timestamp
time_tuple = (2008, 11, 12, 13, 59, 27, 2, 317, 0)
timestamp = time.mktime(time_tuple)
print repr(timestamp)

#-------------------------------------------------
# results
#-------------------------------------------------
# 2008-11-10 17:53:59
# 2008-11-12 13:51:18
# datetime.datetime(2008, 11, 12, 13, 51, 18)
# datetime.datetime(2008, 11, 10, 17, 53, 59)
# datetime.datetime(2008, 11, 12, 13, 59, 27, 595983)
# datetime.datetime(2008, 11, 12, 21, 59, 27, 595983)
# (2008, 11, 10, 17, 53, 59, 0, 315, -1)
# (2008, 11, 10, 17, 53, 59, 0, 315, -1)
# (2008, 11, 12, 21, 59, 27, 2, 317, 0)
# (2008, 11, 12, 13, 59, 27, 2, 317, 0)
# 1226527167.0

4 Comments — feed icon Comments feed for this post


#1 David Eaton commented on 2009-04-30:

Hey, thanks for the cheat sheet for python date conversions, I just started learning python and this has been a great help!


#2 rgz commented on 2009-07-06:

Thanks for the reference.

Honestly I think python's datetime library is pretty bad, consider the fact that basic datetime usage requires to import the time module and such, I understand why the mx DateTime library is so popular altough it has its downsides too.


#3 Eliot commented on 2009-07-08:

rgz, you're welcome. I had never heard of mxDateTime but thanks for mentioning it. It does seem these libraries could be better organized. Based on a few comments in this article, we're not alone. And it appears the datetime/time libraries haven't changed in Python 3.x.


#4 Hari commented on 2010-01-12:

Thanks for the reference, it was extremely useful. I especially missed to see the datetime.fromtimestamp() in the docs so was looking for exactly that.

Post a comment
Required
Required, but not displayed
Optional

Format using Markdown. (No HTML.)
  • Code blocks: prefix each line by at least 4 spaces or 1 tab (and a blank line before and after)
  • Code span: surround with backticks
  • Blockquotes: prefix lines to be quoted with >
  • Links: <URL>
  • Links w/ description: [description](URL)
Created with Django | Hosted by Slicehost