How to fetch and modify Date and Time in Python?

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
• The time module
  • Built-in functions
  • Format codes
  • Find and modify date and time in Python using time
• The datetime module
  • Built-in functions
  • Find and modify date and time in Python using datetime

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.

Format Codes:

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

The struct_time class has the following attributes:

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:

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.