How to convert a string to a date in Python
In Python, the data type which represents the date is called datetime class. Apart from the datetime class, the date can also be represented as a string which we can see in the code below:
myDate = "16-July-2023"#Prints the Date as a stringprint(myDate)
Python allows you to convert the string type date into a datetime object using strptime() method.
Syntax
The syntax for the method used to convert string to datetime object is strptime(x,y) where:
xis the the date entered in thestring.yis the format directives in which thestringdate is stored. Following are the directives for date.
Date formatting directives and their uses
Tags | Definition | Example |
%d | Date of the month (zero padded) | 01,02,03,...,31 |
%-d | Date of the month (without zero padding) | 1,2,3,...,31 |
%B | Full month name | January, February,..., December |
%b | Abbreviated month | Jan, Feb, Mar,..., Dec |
%m | Month number (zero-padded) | 01, 02, 03,..., 12 |
%-m | Month number (without zero padding) | 1, 2, 3,..., 12 |
%y | Year without century (zero-padded) | 00, 01, 02,..., 99 |
%-y | Year without century (without zero padding) | 0, 1, 2,.., 99 |
%Y | Year with century | 1900, 2001, 2023 etc. |
The code below demonstrates the conversion of the string into a datetime object using strptime() method:
from datetime import datetime#Date as a stringdateString = "02-July-2023"print(f"Date as {type(dateString)} is {dateString}")#Converting string date into datetime objectdateTimeObj = datetime.strptime(dateString, "%d-%B-%Y")print(f"Date as {type(dateTimeObj)} is {dateTimeObj}")
Code Explanation
Line 1: Imports
datetimeclass fromdatetimelibrary.Line 3–5: Stores the date as a
stringindateStringvariable and displays it along with its type.Line 7–9: Uses
strptime()method for converting the date (stored indateStringvariable) in adatetimeobject. The converted date is then stored in thedateTimeObjvariable. The following figure explains the use of appropriate directives in the code:
The code will only be executed if the entered directives adhere to the format in which the string is stored. Otherwise, the code will show an error, as illustrated below:
from datetime import datetime#Date as a stringdateString = "02-July-2023"print(f"Date as {type(dateString)} is {dateString}")#Converting string date into datetime objectdateTimeObj = datetime.strptime(dateString, "%d-%b-%Y")print(f"Date as {type(dateTimeObj)} is {dateTimeObj}")
%b directive was used in the code above, although the month name is not abbreviated. Hence it threw an error.
Test Yourself
What is the correct use of strptime() in the following scenario?
from datetime import datetimedef myDate():#Date as a stringdateString = "04/Dec/23"dateTimeObj = #write your solution herereturn dateTimeObj
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