Add a column with current datetime in Pandas DataFrame

In this article, we will discuss a way to add a new column in DataFrame with the current datetime in Pandas.

Table Of Contents

Preparing DataSet

First we will create a DataFrame from list of tuples i.e.

import pandas as pd

# List of Tuples
employees= [('Mark', 'US', 'Tech',   5),
            ('Riti', 'India', 'Tech' ,   7),
            ('Shanky', 'India', 'PMO' ,   2),
            ('Shreya', 'India', 'Design' ,   2),
            ('Aadi', 'US', 'Tech', 11),
            ('Sim', 'US', 'Tech', 4)]

# Create a DataFrame object from list of tuples
df = pd.DataFrame(employees,
                  columns=['Name', 'Location', 'Team', 'Experience'])
print(df)

Output:

0    Mark       US    Tech           5
1    Riti    India    Tech           7
2  Shanky    India     PMO           2
3  Shreya    India  Design           2
4    Aadi       US    Tech          11
5     Sim       US    Tech           4

Now, suppose we want to add a new column in this DataFrame ‘Last_Login_Time’, and this column should contain current DateTime. Let’s see how to do that.

Add Column with current datetime in Pandas

Pandas provides a new class Timestamp, and we can call its constructor with value ‘now’. It will give us a datetime64 object, containing the current date and time. To create a new column where all values should contain the current datetime, assign pd.Timestamp('now') to the [] operator of DataFrame i.e.

# Add new Column with current datetime in Pandas
df['Last_Login_Time'] = pd.Timestamp('now')

print(df)

Output

     Name Location    Team  Experience            Last_Login_Time
0    Mark       US    Tech           5 2023-01-06 11:09:26.326084
1    Riti    India    Tech           7 2023-01-06 11:09:26.326084
2  Shanky    India     PMO           2 2023-01-06 11:09:26.326084
3  Shreya    India  Design           2 2023-01-06 11:09:26.326084
4    Aadi       US    Tech          11 2023-01-06 11:09:26.326084
5     Sim       US    Tech           4 2023-01-06 11:09:26.326084

It added a new column Last_Login_Time in the DataFrame, and each value of this new column is the current Date Time.

Add Column with current datetime with custom format in Pandas

To add a new column of current datetime in custom format, we can call the strftime() function on datetime object with custom format. For example,

df['Last_Logout_Time'] = pd.Timestamp('now').strftime("%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S:%f")

print(df)

df['Last_checkout_Time'] = pd.Timestamp('now').strftime("%y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")

print(df)

Output:

     Name Location    Team  Experience            Last_Login_Time            Last_Logout_Time
0    Mark       US    Tech           5 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950
1    Riti    India    Tech           7 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950
2  Shanky    India     PMO           2 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950
3  Shreya    India  Design           2 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950
4    Aadi       US    Tech          11 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950
5     Sim       US    Tech           4 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950

     Name Location    Team  Experience            Last_Login_Time            Last_Logout_Time Last_checkout_Time
0    Mark       US    Tech           5 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950  23-01-06 11:15:20
1    Riti    India    Tech           7 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950  23-01-06 11:15:20
2  Shanky    India     PMO           2 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950  23-01-06 11:15:20
3  Shreya    India  Design           2 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950  23-01-06 11:15:20
4    Aadi       US    Tech          11 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950  23-01-06 11:15:20
5     Sim       US    Tech           4 2023-01-06 11:15:20.811131  2023/01/06 11:15:20:836950  23-01-06 11:15:20

It added new columns with current datetime, but in different format.

Summary

Today we learned about different ways to add a new column in dataFrame with current datetime in Pandas. Thanks.