Table of Contents
URL: https://www.progressiverobot.com/python-string-to-datetime-strptime/
Introduction
The Python datetime and time modules both include a strptime() class method to convert strings to objects.
In this article, you'll use strptime() to convert strings into datetime and struct_time() objects.
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Converting a String to a datetime object using datetime.strptime()
The syntax for the datetime.strptime() method is:
datetime.strptime(date_string, format)
The datetime.strptime() method returns a datetime object that matches the _date_string_ parsed by the _format_. Both arguments are required and must be strings.
For details about the format directives used in datetime.strptime(), refer to the strftime() and strptime() Format Codes in the Python documentation.
Convert String to datetime.datetime() Object Example
The following example converts a date and time string into a datetime.datetime() object, and prints the class name and value of the resulting object:
from datetime import datetime
datetime_str = '09/19/22 13:55:26'
datetime_object = datetime.strptime(datetime_str, '%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S')
print(type(datetime_object))
print(datetime_object) # printed in default format
The output is:
<class 'datetime.datetime'>
2022-09-19 13:55:26
You can also refer this tutorial on using str() and repr() functions in python.
Convert String to datetime.date() Object Example
The following example converts a date string into a datetime.date() object, and prints the class type and value of the resulting object:
from datetime import datetime
date_str = '09-19-2022'
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_str, '%m-%d-%Y').date()
print(type(date_object))
print(date_object) # printed in default format
The output is:
<class 'datetime.date'>
2022-09-19
Convert String to datetime.time() Object Example
The following example converts a time string into a datetime.time() object, and prints the class type and value of the resulting object:
from datetime import datetime
time_str = '13::55::26'
time_object = datetime.strptime(time_str, '%H::%M::%S').time()
print(type(time_object))
print(time_object)
The output is:
<class 'datetime.time'>
13:55:26
Convert String to datetime.datetime() Object with Locale Example
The following example converts a German locale date string into a datetime.datetime() object, and prints the class type and value of the resulting object:
from datetime import datetime
import locale
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'de_DE')
date_str_de_DE = '16-Dezember-2022 Freitag' # de_DE locale
datetime_object = datetime.strptime(date_str_de_DE, '%d-%B-%Y %A')
print(type(datetime_object))
print(datetime_object)
The output is:
<class 'datetime.datetime'>
2022-12-16 00:00:00
Note that the resulting object doesn't include the weekday name from the input string because a datetime.datetime() object includes the weekday only as a decimal number.
Converting a String to a struct_time() Object Using time.strptime()
The syntax for the time.strptime() method is:
time.strptime(time_string[, format])
The time.strptime() method returns a time.struct_time() object that matches the _time_string_ parsed by the _format_. The _time_string_ is required and both arguments must be strings. If _format_ is not provided, the default is:
'%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y'
This corresponds to the format returned by the ctime() function.
The format directives are the same for time.strptime() and time.strftime(). Learn more about the format directives for the time module in the Python documentation.
Convert String to struct_time() Object With Format Provided Example
The following example converts a time string into a time.struct_time() object by providing the _format_ argument, and prints the value of the resulting object:
import time
time_str = '11::33::54'
time_obj = time.strptime(time_str, '%H::%M::%S')
print("A time.struct_time object that uses the format provided:")
print(time_obj)
The output is:
A time.struct_time object that uses the format provided:
time.struct_time(tm_year=1900, tm_mon=1, tm_mday=1,
tm_hour=11, tm_min=33, tm_sec=54, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=1,
tm_isdst=-1)
As shown in the output, when you convert a string into a time.struct_time() object, the strptime() method uses placeholder values for any format directives that aren't defined in the _format_ argument.
Convert String to struct_time() Object Using Default Format Example
If you don't provide a _format_ argument when you convert a time string into a time.struct_time() object, then the default format is used and an error occurs if the input string does not exactly match the default format of:
'%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y'
The following example converts a time string into a time.struct_time() object with no _format_ argument provided, and prints the value of the resulting object:
import time
# default format - "%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y"
time_str_default = 'Mon Dec 12 14:55:02 2022'
time_obj_default = time.strptime(time_str_default)
print("A time.struct_time object that uses the default format:")
print(time_obj_default)
The output is:
A time.struct_time object that uses the default format:
time.struct_time(tm_year=2022, tm_mon=12, tm_mday=12,
tm_hour=14, tm_min=55, tm_sec=2, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=346,
tm_isdst=-1)
As shown in the output, when you convert a string into a time.struct_time() object, the strptime() method uses placeholder values for any format directives that aren't defined in the _format_ argument or by the default format if no _format_ is provided.
Troubleshooting strptime() Errors
If the input string can't be parsed by strptime() using the provided format, then a ValueError is raised. You can use the try block to test for parsing errors, along with the except block to print the results. The ValueError messages that you get when you use the strptime() method clearly explain the root causes of the parsing errors. The following example demonstrates some common errors, such as extra data and a format mismatch:
from datetime import datetime
import time
datetime_str = '09/19/18 13:55:26'
try:
datetime_object = datetime.strptime(datetime_str, '%m/%d/%y')
except ValueError as ve1:
print('ValueError 1:', ve1)
time_str = '99::55::26'
try:
time_object = time.strptime(time_str, '%H::%M::%S')
except ValueError as ve2:
print('ValueError 2:', ve2)
The output is:
ValueError 1: unconverted data remains: 13:55:26
ValueError 2: time data '99::55::26' does not match format '%H::%M::%S'
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you converted date and time strings into datetime and time objects using Python. Continue your learning with more Python tutorials.
FAQs
1. How to convert Python date string mm dd yyyy to datetime?
To convert a date string in the mm dd yyyy format to a datetime object in Python, you can use the datetime.strptime method from the datetime module:
from datetime import datetime
date_string = "12 25 2024"
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%m %d %Y")
print(date_object)
The Output is:
2024-12-25 00:00:00
2. How to convert a string to date in mm dd yyyy format?
You can parse the string into a datetime object and then extract just the date:
from datetime import datetime
date_string = "12 25 2024"
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%m %d %Y").date()
print(date_object)
The output is:
12 25 2024
3. How to convert a string to yyyy-mm-dd format in Python?
First, parse the string into a datetime object and then format it into the desired yyyy-mm-dd string format:
from datetime import datetime
date_string = "12 25 2024"
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%m %d %Y")
formatted_date = date_object.strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
print(formatted_date)
The output is:
2024-12-25
4. How to convert datetime to dd, mm, yyyy format in Python?
You can use the strftime method to format a datetime object into a specific string format:
from datetime import datetime
date_object = datetime(2024, 12, 25)
formatted_date = date_object.strftime("%d, %m, %Y")
print(formatted_date)
The output is :
25, 12, 2024
5. How to convert a string to datetime in Python?
The datetime.strptime method can be used to parse a string into a datetime object. For example:
from datetime import datetime
date_string = "2024-12-25"
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%Y-%m-%d")
print(date_object)
The output is:
2024-12-25 00:00:00
6. What is the regular expression for date format mm dd yyyy in Python?
A regular expression to match a date string in the mm dd yyyy format could look like this:
import re
regex = r"^(0[1-9]|1[0-2]) ([0-2][0-9]|3[01]) (\d{4})$"
date_string = "12 25 2024"
if re.match(regex, date_string):
print("Valid date format")
else:
print("Invalid date format")
This regex ensures:
mmranges from 01 to 12 (month).ddranges from 01 to 31 (day).yyyyis a four-digit year.
