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How to fetch and modify Date and Time in Python?

Last updated on Nov 26,2019 6.1K Views

12 / 62 Blog from Python Fundamentals

Time is undoubtedly the most critical factor in every aspect of life. Therefore, it becomes very essential to record and track this component. In Python, date and time can be tracked through its built-in libraries. This article on Date and time in Python will help you understand how to find and modify the dates and time using the time and datetime modules.

Modules dealing with date and time in Python

Python provides time and datetime module that help you to easily fetch and modify date and time. Let’s take a look at each of these in detail.

The time module:

This module consists of all the time-related functions that are required to perform various operations using time. It also allows you to access several types of clocks required for various purposes.

Built-in functions:

Take a look at the following table which describes some of the important built-in functions of the time module.

FunctionDescription

time()

Returns the number of seconds that have passed since epoch

ctime()

Returns the current date and time by taking elapsed seconds as its parameter

sleep()

Stops execution of a thread for the given duration

time.struct_time Class

Functions either take this class as an argument or return it as output

localtime()

Takes seconds passed since epoch as a parameter and returns the date and time in time.struct_time format

gmtime()

Similar to localtime(), returns time.struct_time in UTC format

mktime()

The inverse of localtime(). Takes a tuple containing 9 parameters and returns the seconds passed since epoch pas output

asctime()

Takes a tuple containing 9 parameters and returns a string representing the same

strftime()

Takes a tuple containing 9 parameters and returns a string representing the same depending on the format code used

strptime()

Parses a string and returns it in time.struct_time format

Format Codes:

Before moving on to explain each of the functions with examples, take a look at all the legal format codes:

CodeDescriptionExample

%a

Weekday (short version)

Mon

%A

Weekday (full version)

Monday

%b

Month (short version)

Aug

%B

Month (full version)

August

%c

Local date and time version

Tue Aug 23 1:31:40 2019

%d

Depicts the day of the month (01-31)

07

%f

Microseconds

000000-999999

%H

Hour (00-23)

15

%I

Hour (00-11)

3

%j

Day of the year

235

%m

Month Number (01-12)

07

%M

Minutes (00-59)

45

%p

AM / PM

AM

%S

Seconds (00-59)

57

%U

Week number of the year starting from Sunday (00-53)

34

%w

Weekday number of the week

Monday (1)

%W

Week number of the year starting from Monday (00-53)

34

%x

Local date

06/07/19

%X

Local time

12:30:45

%y

Year (short version)

19

%Y

Year (full version)

2019

%z

UTC offset

+0100

%Z

Timezone

CST

%%

% Character

%

The struct_time class has the following attributes:

AttributeValue

tm_year

0000, .., 2019, …, 9999

tm_mon

1-12

tm_mday

1-31

tm_hour

0-23

tm_min

0-59

tm_sec

0-61

tm_wday

0-6  (Monday is 0)

tm_yday

1-366

tm_isdst

0, 1, -1    (daylight savings time, -1 when unknown)

Now let us take some examples to implement the time module.

Finding date and time in Python using time:

Using the built-in functions and the format codes described in the tables above, you can easily fetch the date and time in Python. Please note that just like all modules, the time module also needs to be imported before making use of any built-in function.

EXAMPLE:

import time
#time
a=time.time()           #total seconds since epoch
print("Seconds since epoch :",a,end='n----------n')
#ctime
print("Current date and time:")
print(time.ctime(a),end='n----------n') 
#sleep
time.sleep(1)     #execution will be delayed by one second
#localtime
print("Local time :")
print(time.localtime(a),end='n----------n')
#gmtime
print("Local time in UTC format :")
print(time.gmtime(a),end='n-----------n')
#mktime
b=(2019,8,6,10,40,34,1,218,0)
print("Current Time in seconds :")
print( time.mktime(b),end='n----------n')
#asctime
print("Current Time in local format :")
print( time.asctime(b),end='n----------n')
#strftime
c = time.localtime() # get struct_time
d = time.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S", c)
print("String representing date and time:")
print(d,end='n----------n')
#strptime
print("time.strptime parses string and returns it in struct_time format :n")
e = "06 AUGUST, 2019"
f = time.strptime(e, "%d %B, %Y")
print(f)

OUTPUT:

Seconds since epoch : 1565070251.7134922
———-
Current date and time:
Tue Aug 6 11:14:11 2019
———-
Local time :
time.struct_time(tm_year=2019, tm_mon=8, tm_mday=6, tm_hour=11, tm_min=14, tm_sec=11, tm_wday=1, tm_yday=218, tm_isdst=0)
———-
Local time in UTC format :
time.struct_time(tm_year=2019, tm_mon=8, tm_mday=6, tm_hour=5, tm_min=44, tm_sec=11, tm_wday=1, tm_yday=218, tm_isdst=0)
———–
Current Time in seconds :
1565068234.0
———-
Current Time in local format :
Tue Aug 6 10:40:34 2019
———-
String representing date and time:
08/06/2019, 11:14:12
———-
time.strptime parses string and returns it in struct_time format :

time.struct_time(tm_year=2019, tm_mon=8, tm_mday=6, tm_hour=0, tm_min=0, tm_sec=0, tm_wday=1, tm_yday=218, tm_isdst=-1)

The datetime module:

Similar to the time module, the datetime module also consists of all the required methods that are essential for working with the date and time.

Built-in functions:

The following table describes some of the important functions present within this module:

FunctionDescription

datetime()

Datetime constructor

datetime.today()

Returns current local date and time

datetime.now()

Returns current local date and time

date()

Takes year, month and day as parameter and creates the corresponding date

time()

Takes hour, min, sec, microseconds and tzinfo as parameter and creates the corresponding date

date.fromtimestamp()

Converts seconds to return the corresponding date and time

timedelta()

It is the difference between different dates or times (Duration)

Finding date and time in Python using datetime:

Now, let us try to implement these functions to find the date and time in Python using the datetime module.

EXAMPLE:

import datetime
#datetime constructor
print("Datetime constructor:n")
print(datetime.datetime(2019,5,3,8,45,30,234),end='n----------n')

#today
print("The current date and time using today :n")
print(datetime.datetime.today(),end='n----------n')

#now
print("The current date and time using today :n")
print(datetime.datetime.now(),end='n----------n')

#date
print("Setting date :n")
print(datetime.date(2019,11,7),end='n----------n')
 
#time
print("Setting time :n")
print(datetime.time(6,30,23),end='n----------n')

#date.fromtimestamp
print("Converting seconds to date and time:n")
print(datetime.date.fromtimestamp(23456789),end='n----------n')

#timedelta
b1=datetime.timedelta(days=30, seconds=0, microseconds=0, milliseconds=0, minutes=0, hours=4, weeks=8)
b2=datetime.timedelta(days=3, seconds=0, microseconds=0, milliseconds=0, minutes=0, hours=4, weeks=8)
b3=b2-b1
print(type(b3))
print("The resultant duration = ",b3,end='n----------n')

#attributes
a=datetime.datetime.now()   #1
print(a)
print("The year is :",a.year)

print("Hours :",a.hour)

OUTPUT:

Datetime constructor:

2019-05-03 08:45:30.000234
———-
The current date and time using today :

2019-08-06 13:09:56.651691
———-
The current date and time using today :

2019-08-06 13:09:56.651691
———-
Setting date :

2019-11-07
———-
Setting time :

06:30:23
———-
Converting seconds to date and time:

1970-09-29
———-
<class ‘datetime.timedelta’>
The resultant duration = -27 days, 0:00:00
———-
2019-08-06 13:09:56.653694
The year is : 2019
Hours : 13

This brings us to the end of this article on “Date and time in Python”. I hope you have understood everything clearly.

Make sure you practice as much as possible and revert your experience.  

Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section of this “Generators in Python” blog and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

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How to fetch and modify Date and Time in Python?

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