Python strftime()

The date, time, and datetime classes in Python provide a variety of functions for dealing with dates, times, and time intervals. Date and datetime are objects in Python, so when you modify them, you are actually altering objects rather than strings or timestamps. When working with dates or times, you must use the datetime function. This article will teach you how to use the Python strftime() function to convert date, time, and datetime objects to their equivalent strings (with examples).

Python strftime() method

We use the Python strftime() method to convert a datetime to a string. The Python strftime() function is in charge of returning a string representing date and time using a date, time, or datetime object. It accepts one or more lines of formatted code as input and returns the string representation.

The datetime class in Python has a member function called strftime() that can be used to construct a string representation of data in the object. Date and time manipulation classes are provided by the datetime module.

The syntax is as follows:

                    

strftime(format)

                

Example 1: datetime to string using strftime()

The datetime class in Python has a member method strftime() that creates a string representation of the data in the object, i.e.

                    

datetime.strftime(format_String)

                

We use datetime.strftime(format_string) to convert a datetime object to a string that matches the format. The format codes are standard directives for specifying the format in which you want to represent datetime.

In this example, we’ll use datetime.now() to get the current time. The datetime.now() returns a datetime.datetime object. Also, we need to first import the datetime module.

Example

                    

from datetime import datetime

now = datetime.now()   # current date and time

year = now.strftime('%Y')
print('Year:', year)

month = now.strftime('%m')
print('Month:', month)

day = now.strftime('%d')
print('Day:', day)

date = now.strftime('%d/%m/%Y')
print('Date:', date)

time = now.strftime('%H:%M:%S')
print('Time:', time)

date_time = now.strftime('%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S')
print('Date and Time:',date_time)

                

Output

                    

Year: 2021
Month: 10
Day: 20
Date: 20/10/2021
Time: 07:04:16
Date and Time: 10/20/2021, 07:04:16

                

Format codes in the above program include %d, %m, %Y, and so on. The strftime() method accepts one or more format codes as arguments and returns a formatted text-based on them. The year, month, day, date, time, and date_time are all strings in this case, whereas now is a datetime object.

How strftime() works?

Dates have a standard representation, but you could want to publish them in a different format. The format codes in the above program are %Y, %m, %d, and so on. The strftime() method accepts one or more format codes as arguments and returns a formatted string as a result.

Let us understand how Python strftime() works by looking at one part of the above program.

• The datetime class was imported from the datetime module. This is due to the fact that the object of the datetime class has access to the strftime() method.
• In the now variable, a datetime object holding the current date and time is saved.
• To generate formatted strings, we use the strftime() function.
• The text passed to the strftime() method can have several format codes. Such as %Y, %y, %h, %d, %p, %s, %M, etc.

Example 2: Creating string from a timestamp

The fromtimestamp() function accepts a timestamp as an argument and returns a datetime object, which we can then use with the strftime() function to extract a day, month, and year from.

                    

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1634718429
date_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

print('Date time object:', date_time)

d = date_time.strftime('%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S')
print('Format 2:', d)

d = date_time.strftime('%d %b, %Y')
print('Format 3:', d)

d = date_time.strftime('%d %B, %Y')
print('Format 4:', d)

d = date_time.strftime('%I %p')
print('Format 5:', d)

                

Output

                    

Date time object: 2021-10-20 08:27:09
Format 2: 10/20/2021, 08:27:09
Format 3: 20 Oct, 2021
Format 4: 20 October, 2021
Format 5: 08 AM

                

Format Code List

To represent a datetime in a string format, strftime() employs various standard directives. Both the strptime() and strftime() methods use an identical set of directives. The character codes for formatting the date and time are listed below.

Example 3: Locale’s appropriate date and time

                    

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1634730902
date_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

d = date_time.strftime("%c")
print("Output 1:", d)  

d = date_time.strftime("%x")
print("Output 2:", d)

d = date_time.strftime("%X")
print("Output 3:", d)

                

Output

                    

Output 1: Wed Oct 20 11:55:02 2021
Output 2: 10/20/21
Output 3: 11:55:02

                

The format codes %c, %x, and %X are used to specify the appropriate date and time for the locale.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is strftime in Python?

We use the Python strftime() method to convert a datetime to a string. The Python strftime() function is in charge of returning a string representing date and time using a date, time, or datetime object. It accepts one or more lines of formatted code as input and returns the string representation.

The datetime class in Python has a member function called strftime() that can be used to construct a string representation of data in the object. Date and time manipulation classes are provided by the datetime module.

The syntax is as follows:

                    

strftime(format)

                

Q2. What is ctime in Python?

ctime() in Python converts a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a string expressing local time. If seconds is not specified or if None is specified, the current time as returned by time() is utilised. The syntax is as follows,

                    

time.ctime([sec])

                

Example

                    

import time

# seconds passed since epoch
seconds = 1634731296.38228
local_time = time.ctime(seconds)
print('Local time:', local_time)

                

Output

                    

Local time: Wed Oct 20 12:01:36 2021

                

Q3. How do I use datetime strftime in Python?

Let us understand how Python strftime() works by looking at one part of the above program.

• We first import the datetime class from the datetime module. This is due to the fact that the object of the datetime class has access to the strftime() method.
• In the now variable, a datetime object holding the current date and time is saved.
• To generate formatted strings, we use the strftime() function.
• The text passed to the strftime() method can have several format codes. Such as %Y, %y, %h, %d, %p, %s, %M, etc.