In this article we will discuss how to convert timestamp in different string formats to a datetime class object in Python.
String to datetime object using datetime.strptime()
Python’s datetime module provides a datetime class, which has a method to convert string to a datetime object i.e.
datetime.strptime(date_string, format)
If accepts a string containing the timestamp and a format string containing the format codes representing the date time elements in date_string. It parses the string according to format codes and returns a datetime object created from it.
To use this import datetime class from datetime module i.e.
from datetime import datetime
Let’s see some examples
Example 1:
Let’s convert a time string in format YYYY-MM-DDTHH::MM::SS.MICROS to a datetime object i.e.
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('2018-09-11T15::11::45.456777', '%Y-%m-%dT%H::%M::%S.%f')
print(datetimeObj)
print(type(datetimeObj))
Output:
2018-09-11 15:11:45.456777 <class 'datetime.datetime'>
Format string used here is : ‘%Y-%m-%dT%H::%M::%S.%f‘
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Complete list of format code :
| Format Codes | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| %d | Day of the month as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 31 |
| %a | Weekday as abbreviated name | Sun, Mon, …, Sat |
| %A | Weekday as full name | Sunday, Monday, …, Saturday |
| %m | Month as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 12 |
| %b | Month as abbreviated name | Jan, Feb, …, Dec |
| %B | Month as full name | January, February, …, December |
| %y | Year without century as a zero-padded decimal number | 00, 01, …, 99 |
| %Y | Year with century as a decimal number | 0001, …, 2018, …, 9999 |
| %H | Hour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 23 |
| %M | Minute as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 59 |
| %S | Second as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 59 |
| %f | Microsecond as a decimal number, zero-padded on the left | 000000, 000001, …, 999999 |
| %I | Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 12 |
| %p | Locale’s equivalent of either AM or PM | AM , PM |
| %j | Day of the year as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, 03, 04 …, 366 |
Let’s see some other examples :
Example 2:
Let’s convert a timestamp string in format DD/MM/YYYY HH::MM::SS to a datetime object i.e.
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('23/Jan/2018 14:12:22', '%d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S')
print(datetimeObj)
Output:
2018-01-23 14:12:22
Example 3:
Create Date Time Object from date string only in ‘DD MMM YYYY‘ format
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('29 Oct 2018', '%d %b %Y')
# Get the date object from datetime object
dateObj = datetimeObj.date()
print(dateObj)
print(type(dateObj))Output:
2018-10-29 <class 'datetime.date'>
Example 4:
Create datetime Object from time string only in ‘HH:MM:SS AP‘ format
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('05:12:22 PM', '%I:%M:%S %p')
# Get the time object from datetime object
timeObj = datetimeObj.time()
print(timeObj)
print(type(timeObj))Output:
17:12:22 <class 'datetime.time'>
Example 5:
Create datetime Object from timestamp scattered in a text.
Some time our timestamp is embedded in a text like,
"On January the 5th of 2018 meet me at 5 PM"
Let’s see how to convert timestamp in this string to a date time object with format codes mixed in text i.e.
textStr = "On January the 5th of 2018 meet me at 5 PM" datetimeObj = datetime.strptime(textStr, "On %B the %dth of %Y meet me at %I %p") print(datetimeObj)
Output:
2018-01-05 17:00:00
Complete example is as follows,
from datetime import datetime
def main():
print("*** Convert timestamp String of format 'YYYY-MM-DDTHH::MM::SS.MICROS' to date time object ***")
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('2018-09-11T15::11::45.456777', '%Y-%m-%dT%H::%M::%S.%f')
print(datetimeObj)
print(type(datetimeObj))
print("*** Convert timestamp String of format 'DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS' to date time object ***")
# Convert String of format 'DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS' to date time object
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('23/Jan/2018 14:12:22', '%d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S')
print(datetimeObj)
print("*** Create DateTime Object from date string only in 'DD MMM YYYY' format ***")
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('29 Oct 2018', '%d %b %Y')
# Get the date object from datetime object
dateObj = datetimeObj.date()
print(dateObj)
print(type(dateObj))
print("*** Create DateTime Object from time string only in 'HH:MM:SS AP' format ***")
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('05:12:22 PM', '%I:%M:%S %p')
# Get the time object from datetime object
timeObj = datetimeObj.time()
print(timeObj)
print(type(timeObj))
print('*** Create DateTime Object from timestamp scattered in a text ***')
textStr = "On January the 5th of 2018 meet me at 5 PM"
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime(textStr, "On %B the %dth of %Y meet me at %I %p")
print(datetimeObj)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Output:
*** Convert timestamp String of format 'YYYY-MM-DDTHH::MM::SS.MICROS' to date time object *** 2018-09-11 15:11:45.456777 <class 'datetime.datetime'> *** Convert timestamp String of format 'DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS' to date time object *** 2018-01-23 14:12:22 *** Create DateTime Object from date string only in 'DD MMM YYYY' format *** 2018-10-29 <class 'datetime.date'> *** Create DateTime Object from time string only in 'HH:MM:SS AP' format *** 17:12:22 <class 'datetime.time'> *** Create DateTime Object from timestamp scattered in a text *** 2018-01-05 17:00:00
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