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Python Datetime
Python Dates
A date in Python is not a data type, but we can import a module called datetime to work with dates as date items.
Example
Import the datetime module and display the current date:
import datetime
x = datetime.datetime.now()
print(x)
Date Output
If we create the code in the example above the result will be:
Date contains year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and microsecond.
The day time module has many ways to retrieve information about a date item.
Here are a few examples, which you will learn more about later in this chapter:
Example
Return the year and name of weekday:
import datetime
x = datetime.datetime.now()
print(x.year)
print(x.strftime("%A"))
Creating Date Objects
To create a date, we can use the date section () (builder) of the date module.
The datetime () class requires three parameters to create a date: year, month, day.
Example
Create a date object:
import datetime
x = datetime.datetime(2020, 5, 17)
print(x)
The datetime () class also takes time and time parameters (hour, minute, second, microsecond, tzone), but is optional, and has a default value of 0, (No time limit).
The strftime() Method
Date object has a way to format date objects into a readable character unit.
The method is called strftime (), and it takes one parameter, format, to specify the format of the restored series:
Example
Display the name of the month:
import datetime
x = datetime.datetime(2018, 6, 1)
print(x.strftime("%B"))
Reference for all official format codes:
| Directive | Description | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| %a | Weekday, short version | Wed | |
| %A | Weekday, full version | Wednesday | |
| %w | Weekday as a number 0-6, 0 is Sunday | 3 | |
| %d | Day of month 01-31 | 31 | |
| %b | Month name, short version | Dec | |
| %B | Month name, full version | December | |
| %m | Month as a number 01-12 | 12 | |
| %y | Year, short version, without century | 18 | |
| %Y | Year, full version | 2018 | |
| %H | Hour 00-23 | 17 | |
| %I | Hour 00-12 | 05 | |
| %p | AM/PM | PM | |
| %M | Minute 00-59 | 41 | |
| %S | Second 00-59 | 08 | |
| %f | Microsecond 000000-999999 | 548513 | |
| %z | UTC offset | +0100 | |
| %Z | Timezone | CST | |
| %j | Day number of year 001-366 | 365 | |
| %U | Week number of year, Sunday as the first day of week, 00-53 | 52 | |
| %W | Week number of year, Monday as the first day of week, 00-53 | 52 | |
| %c | Local version of date and time | Mon Dec 31 17:41:00 2018 | |
| %C | Century | 20 | |
| %x | Local version of date | 12/31/18 | |
| %X | Local version of time | 17:41:00 | |
| %% | A % character | % | |
| %G | ISO 8601 year | 2018 | |
| %u | ISO 8601 weekday (1-7) | 1 | |
| %V | ISO 8601 weeknumber (01-53) | 01 |