Python Date and Time Handling

Date and time manipulation is a common functionality in Python programs. Python provides time and calendar modules for formatting and working with dates and times.

Time intervals are represented as floating-point numbers in seconds.

Every timestamp represents the time elapsed since midnight on January 1, 1970 (the epoch).

The time module in Python includes several functions to convert commonly used date formats. For example, the time.time() function is used to get the current timestamp, as shown in the following example:

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python3

import time  # Import the time module

ticks = time.time()
print("Current timestamp is:", ticks)

Output:

Current timestamp is: 1459996086.7115328

Timestamps are ideal for date calculations, but dates before 1970 cannot be represented using them. Additionally, very distant dates are not supported, as UNIX and Windows systems only support dates up until 2038.

What is a Time Tuple?

Many Python functions process time as a tuple containing 9 elements:

This structure is referred to as the struct_time tuple. It has the following attributes:

Getting the Current Time

To convert a floating-point timestamp to a time tuple, pass the floating-point number to functions like localtime.

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python3

import time

localtime = time.localtime(time.time())
print("Local time is:", localtime)

Output:

Local time is: time.struct_time(tm_year=2016, tm_mon=4, tm_mday=7, tm_hour=10, tm_min=28, tm_sec=49, tm_wday=3, tm_yday=98, tm_isdst=0)

Getting Formatted Time

You can format the date and time in various ways. The simplest function to get a readable time format is asctime():

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python3

import time

localtime = time.asctime(time.localtime(time.time()))
print("Local time is:", localtime)

Output:

Local time is: Thu Apr 7 10:29:13 2016

This basic approach helps format and work with date and time effectively in Python, allowing for flexible and readable output.

Formatting Dates in Python

In Python, we can use the time module's strftime method to format dates:

time.strftime(format[, t])

Example

#!/usr/bin/python3

import time

# Format as '2016-03-20 11:45:39'
print(time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", time.localtime()))

# Format as 'Sat Mar 28 22:24:24 2016'
print(time.strftime("%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y", time.localtime()))

# Convert a formatted string to a timestamp
a = "Sat Mar 28 22:24:24 2016"
print(time.mktime(time.strptime(a, "%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y")))

Output:

2016-04-07 10:29:46  
Thu Apr 07 10:29:46 2016  
1459175064.0

Python Time and Date Formatting Symbols:

• %y: Two-digit year representation (00-99)

• %Y: Four-digit year representation (000-9999)

• %m: Month (01-12)

• %d: Day of the month (0-31)

• %H: Hour (00-23, 24-hour format)

• %I: Hour (01-12, 12-hour format)

• %M: Minute (00-59)

• %S: Seconds (00-59)

• %a: Shortened weekday name

• %A: Full weekday name

• %b: Shortened month name

• %B: Full month name

• %c: Local date and time representation

• %j: Day of the year (001-366)

• %p: Local AM/PM equivalent

• %U: Week number of the year (00-53), Sunday as the first day of the week

• %w: Weekday (0-6), Sunday as the first day of the week

• %W: Week number of the year (00-53), Monday as the first day of the week

• %x: Local date representation

• %X: Local time representation

• %Z: Current time zone name

• %%: Literal percent sign

Getting a Month's Calendar

The calendar module provides methods for working with yearly and monthly calendars, such as printing a month's calendar:

Example

#!/usr/bin/python3

import calendar

cal = calendar.month(2016, 1)
print("The calendar for January 2016:")
print(cal)

Output:

The calendar for January 2016:
    January 2016
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
             1  2  3
 4  5  6  7  8  9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Time Module

The Time module includes the following built-in functions for both time processing and converting time formats:

The Time module includes the following two very important attributes:

Calendar Module

This module contains functions related to calendars, such as printing a character calendar for a given month.

By default, Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday is the last day. To change this setting, call the calendar.setfirstweekday() function. The module includes the following built-in functions:

Other Related Modules and Functions

In Python, other modules for handling dates and times include:

• Time module

• Datetime module