Comments on: datetime to string, easy; string to datetime… oh my, my!

By: sheshakiran

sheshakiran — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:05:27 +0000

how to convert string to date format
eg :
2011-04-08(think this is string and shuld convert it into date format )

By: Caio

Caio — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:21:37 +0000

You can also use datetime.strptime(“date”,”format”) to convert string to datetime.

Note that the datetime.strptime returns a datetime object, if you want a datetime.date object you should call datetime.strptime(“date”,”format”).date().

I think it’s simpler.
Regards!

By: Himanshu

Himanshu — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:32:36 +0000

I came across this:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/2006-March/045729.html

Code at this like has one error though, in last line instead of mytime it should be timestring

By: markvan

markvan — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:20:38 +0000

Datatype conversion heaven, this just made sense and worked.
I remember your skill from the Flash5 days and Flashkit, good to know you are still caring and sharing.

By: Shubhadeep

Shubhadeep — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:03:37 +0000

Thanks Man!
You saved me a lot of time

Thanks again

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:37:55 +0000

sorry, tried 3 times to post with indenting — as we all know, in python, whitespace counts!

If you can’t determine the proper indentation and you actually want the code, let me know by email:

davydm _AT_ gmail _DOT_ com

Sorry for the comment spam!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:35:28 +0000


import datetime
import sys
import os

# much fudgery
def utctime(dt):
  return (((dt.toordinal()-719163)*24+dt.hour)*60+dt.minute)*60+dt.second

def try_formats():
  ret = []
  ret.append("%Y-%m-%d")
  ret.append("%Y/%m/%d")
  ret.append("%d/%m/%Y")
  ret.append("%d-%m-%Y")
  ret.append("%d/%m/%y")
  ret.append("%d-%m-%y")
  ret.append("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%d-%m-%y %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%d/%m/%y %H:%M:%S")
  ret.append("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
  ret.append("%d-%m-%Y %H:%M")
  ret.append("%Y/%m/%d %H:%M")
  ret.append("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M")
  ret.append("%d-%m-%y %H:%M")
  ret.append("%y/%m/%d %H:%M")
  ret.append("%d/%m/%y %H:%M")
  return ret


def show_date(s):
  FORMAT="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
  try:
    secs = int(s)
    d = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(secs)
    print(str(secs) + " :: " + d.strftime(FORMAT))
    return
  except:
    pass

  for f in try_formats():
    try:
      d = datetime.datetime.strptime(s, f)
      secs = utctime(d)
      print(str(secs) + " :: " + d.strftime(FORMAT))
      return
    except:
      pass

  print("Unable to grok datetime / int string '" + s + "'")

def usage():
  print(os.path.basename(sys.argv[0]) + "  ...")
  print("  attempts to grok the date from the string you provided and")
  print("  prints out a timestamp and date string for all arguments")

if __name__ == "__main__":
  if len(sys.argv) == 1:
    usage()
  else:
    for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
      if (arg == "--help") or (arg == "-h"):
        usage()
      else:
        show_date(arg)

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:34:55 +0000

import datetime
import sys
import os

# much fudgery
def utctime(dt):
return (((dt.toordinal()-719163)*24+dt.hour)*60+dt.minute)*60+dt.second

def try_formats():
ret = []
ret.append(“%Y-%m-%d”)
ret.append(“%Y/%m/%d”)
ret.append(“%d/%m/%Y”)
ret.append(“%d-%m-%Y”)
ret.append(“%d/%m/%y”)
ret.append(“%d-%m-%y”)
ret.append(“%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%d-%m-%y %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%d/%m/%y %H:%M:%S”)
ret.append(“%Y-%m-%d %H:%M”)
ret.append(“%d-%m-%Y %H:%M”)
ret.append(“%Y/%m/%d %H:%M”)
ret.append(“%d/%m/%Y %H:%M”)
ret.append(“%d-%m-%y %H:%M”)
ret.append(“%y/%m/%d %H:%M”)
ret.append(“%d/%m/%y %H:%M”)
return ret

def show_date(s):
FORMAT=”%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”
try:
secs = int(s)
d = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(secs)
print(str(secs) + ” :: ” + d.strftime(FORMAT))
return
except:
pass

for f in try_formats():
try:
d = datetime.datetime.strptime(s, f)
secs = utctime(d)
print(str(secs) + ” :: ” + d.strftime(FORMAT))
return
except:
pass

print(“Unable to grok datetime / int string ‘” + s + “‘”)

def usage():
print(os.path.basename(sys.argv[0]) + ” …”)
print(” attempts to grok the date from the string you provided and”)
print(” prints out a timestamp and date string for all arguments”)

if __name__ == “__main__”:
if len(sys.argv) == 1:
usage()
else:
for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
if (arg == “–help”) or (arg == “-h”):
usage()
else:
show_date(arg)

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:34:20 +0000

There’s a cheaper (as in “cheap-n-nasty”), more easily extensible method

The following code converts a timestamp or date string to a date object and prints it out (I needed to be able to do this for an arb reason):

#begin code
import datetime
import sys
import os

# much fudgery
def utctime(dt):
return (((dt.toordinal()-719163)*24+dt.hour)*60+dt.minute)*60+dt.second

def show_date(s):
FORMAT=”%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”
try:
secs = int(s)
d = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(secs)
print(str(secs) + ” :: ” + d.strftime(FORMAT))
return
except:
pass

for f in try_formats():
try:
d = datetime.datetime.strptime(s, f)
secs = utctime(d)
print(str(secs) + ” :: ” + d.strftime(FORMAT))
return
except:
pass

print(“Unable to grok datetime / int string ‘” + s + “‘”)

if __name__ == “__main__”:
if len(sys.argv) == 1:
usage()
else:
for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
if (arg == “–help”) or (arg == “-h”):
usage()
else:
show_date(arg)

#end code

Hope it helps someone.

By: OzgurBatu

OzgurBatu — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:54:57 +0000

it realy works. Thank you…