Basic DateTime Operations in Python

20 Oct, 2021
Python has an in-built module named DateTime to deal with dates and times in numerous ways. In this article, we are going to see basic DateTime operations in Python.
There are six main object classes with their respective components in the datetime module mentioned below:
datetime.datedatetime.timedatetime.datetimedatetime.tzinfodatetime.timedeltadatetime.timezone
datetime.date
datetime.time
datetime.datetime
datetime.tzinfo
datetime.timedelta
datetime.timezone
Now we will see the program for each of the functions under datetime module mentioned above. 
We can generate date objects from the date class. A date object represents a date having a year, month, and day.
Syntax:datetime.date( year, month, day)
strftime to print day, month, and year in various formats. Here are some of them are: 
current.strftime(“%m/%d/%y”) that prints in month(Numeric)/date/year format
current.strftime(“%b-%d-%Y”) that prints in month(abbreviation)-date-year format
current.strftime(“%d/%m/%Y”) that prints in date/month/year format
current.strftime(“%B %d, %Y”) that prints in month(words) date, year format
Python3
from datetime import date # You can create a date object containing# the current date# by using a classmethod named today()current = date.today() # print current year, month, and year individuallyprint("Current Day is :", current.day)print("Current Month is :", current.month)print("Current Year is :", current.year) # strftime() creates string representing date in# various formatsprint("\n")print("Let's print date, month and year in different-different ways")format1 = current.strftime("%m/%d/%y") # prints in month/date/year formatprint("format1 =", format1)     format2 =  current.strftime("%b-%d-%Y")# prints in month(abbreviation)-date-year formatprint("format2 =", format2) format3 = current.strftime("%d/%m/%Y") # prints in date/month/year formatprint("format3 =", format3)     format4 =  current.strftime("%B %d, %Y") # prints in month(words) date, year formatprint("format4 =", format4)
Output:
Current Day is : 23
Current Month is : 3
Current Year is : 2021


Let's print date, month and year in different-different ways
format1 = 03/23/21
format2 = Mar-23-2021
format3 = 23/03/2021
format4 = March 23, 2021
 A time object generated from the time class represents the local time.
Components: 
hour
minute
second
microsecond
tzinfo
Syntax: datetime.time(hour, minute, second, microsecond)
Code:
Python3
from datetime import time # time() takes hour, minutes, second,# microsecond respectively in order# if no parameter is passed in time() by default# it takes 0defaultTime = time() print("default_hour =", defaultTime.hour)print("default_minute =", defaultTime.minute)print("default_second =", defaultTime.second)print("default_microsecond =", defaultTime.microsecond) # passing parameter in different-different ways# hour, minute and second respectively is a default# ordertime1= time(10, 5, 25)print("time_1 =", time1) # assigning hour, minute and second to respective# variablestime2= time(hour = 10, minute = 5, second = 25)print("time_2 =", time2) # assigning hour, minute, second and microsecond to# respective variablestime3= time(hour=10, minute= 5, second=25, microsecond=55)print("time_3 =", time3)
Output:
default_hour = 0
default_minute = 0
default_second = 0
default_microsecond = 0
time_1 = 10:05:25
time_2 = 10:05:25
time_3 = 10:05:25.000055
datetime.datetime() module shows the combination of a date and a time. 
Components: 
year
month
day
hour
minute
second,
microsecond
tzinfo
Syntax: datetime.datetime( year, month, day )
                           or
datetime.datetime(year, month, day, hour, minute, second, microsecond)
Current date and time using the strftime() method in different ways:
strftime(“%d”) gives current day
strftime(“%m”) gives current month
strftime(“%Y”) gives current year
strftime(“%H:%M:%S”) gives current time in an hour, minute, and second format
strftime(“%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S”) gives date and time together
Code:
Python3
from datetime import datetime # now() gives current date and timecurrent = datetime.now() # print combinedlyprint(current)print("\n")print("print each term individually") day = current.strftime("%d") # print dayprint("day:", day) month = current.strftime("%m") # print monthprint("month:", month) year = current.strftime("%Y") # print yearprint("year:", year) time = current.strftime("%H:%M:%S") # time in hour, minute and secondprint("time:", time) print("\n")print("printing date and time together")date_time = current.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S")print("date and time:", date_time)print("\n") # fetching details from timestamptimestamp = 1615797322date_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp) # %c, %x and %X are used for locale's proper date and time representationtime_1 = date_time.strftime("%c")print("first_output:", time_1) time_2 = date_time.strftime("%x")print("second_output:", time_2) time_3 = date_time.strftime("%X")print("third_output:", time_3) print("\n") # assigning each term manuallymanual = datetime(2021, 3, 28, 23, 55, 59, 342380)print("year =", manual.year)print("month =", manual.month)print("hour =", manual.hour)print("minute =", manual.minute)print("timestamp =", manual.timestamp())
Output:
2021-03-23 19:00:20.726833


print each term individually
day: 23
month: 03
year: 2021
time: 19:00:20


printing date and time together
date and time: 03/23/2021, 19:00:20


first_output: Mon Mar 15 14:05:22 2021
second_output: 03/15/21
third_output: 14:05:22


year = 2021
month = 3
hour = 23
minute = 55
timestamp = 1616955959.34238
It shows a duration that expresses the difference between two date, time, or datetime instances to microsecond resolution.
Here we implemented some basic functions and printed past and future days. Also, we will print some other attributes of timedelta max, min, and resolution that show maximum days and time, minimum date and time, and the smallest possible difference between non-equal timedelta objects respectively. Here we will also apply some arithmetic operations on two different dates and times.
Python3
from datetime import timedelta, datetime present_date_with_time = datetime.now() print("Present Date :", present_date_with_time) # coming date after 10 daysten_days_after= present_date_with_time + timedelta(days = 10)print('Date after 10 days :',ten_days_after) # date before 10 daysten_days_before= present_date_with_time - timedelta(days = 10)print('Date before 10 days :',ten_days_before) # date before one year agoone_year_before_today= present_date_with_time + timedelta(days = 365)print('One year before present Date :', one_year_before_today) #date before one year agoone_year_after_today= present_date_with_time - timedelta(days = 365)print('One year before present Date :', one_year_after_today) print("\n")print("print some other attributes of timedelta\n") # maximum days and timeprint("Max : ",timedelta.max) # minimum days and timeprint("Min : ",timedelta.min) # The smallest possible difference between non-equal# timedelta objects, timedelta(microseconds=1)print("Resolution: ",timedelta.resolution) print('Total number of seconds in an year :',      timedelta(days = 365).total_seconds()) print("\nApply some operations on timedelta function\n")time_after_one_min = present_date_with_time + timedelta(seconds=10) * 6print('Time after one minute :', time_after_one_min) print('Timedelta absolute value :', abs(timedelta(days = +20))) print('Timedelta string representation :', str(timedelta(days = 5,                       seconds = 40, hours = 20, milliseconds = 355))) print('Timedelta object representation :', repr(timedelta(days = 5,                       seconds = 40, hours = 20, milliseconds = 355)))
Output:
Present Date : 2021-03-25 22:34:27.651128
Date after 10 days : 2021-04-04 22:34:27.651128
Date before 10 days : 2021-03-15 22:34:27.651128
One year before present Date : 2022-03-25 22:34:27.651128
One year before present Date : 2020-03-25 22:34:27.651128
print some other attributes of timedelta
Max :  999999999 days, 23:59:59.999999
Min :  -999999999 days, 0:00:00
Resolution:  0:00:00.000001
Total number of seconds in an year : 31536000.0
Apply some operations on timedelta function
Time after one minute : 2021-03-25 22:35:27.651128
Timedelta absolute value : 20 days, 0:00:00
Timedelta string representation : 5 days, 20:00:40.355000
Timedelta object representation : datetime.timedelta(days=5, seconds=72040, microseconds=355000)
It is an abstract base class for time zone information objects. They are used by the datetime and time classes to provide a customizable notion of time adjustment. 
There are the following four methods available for tzinfo base class:
utcoffset(self, dt): returns the offset of the datetime instance passed as an argument
dst(self, dt): dst stands for Daylight Saving Time. dst denotes advancing the clock 1 hour in summer so that darkness falls later according to the clock.  It is set to on or off. It is checked on the basis of the following elements:
(dt.year, dt.month, dt.day, dt.hour, dt.minute, dt.second, dt.weekday(), 0, 0)
tzname(self, dt): It returns a Python String object. It is used to find the time zone name of the datetime object passed.
fromutc(self, dt) : This function returns the equivalent local time and takes up the date and time of the object in UTC. It is mostly used to adjust the date and time. It is called from default datetime.astimezone() implementation. The dt.tzinfo will be passed as self, dst date and time data will be returned as an equivalent local time.
Note: It raises ValueError if dt.tzinfo is not self or/and dst() is None.
Python3
# codefrom datetime import datetime, timedeltafrom pytz import timezoneimport pytz time_zone = timezone('Asia/Calcutta') normal = datetime(2021, 3, 16)ambiguous = datetime(2021, 4, 16, 23, 30) # is_dst parameter is ignored for most of the# timstamps.It is only used during DST# transition ambiguous periods to resolve that# ambiguityprint("Operations on normal datetime")print(time_zone.utcoffset(normal, is_dst=True))print(time_zone.dst(normal, is_dst=True))print(time_zone.tzname(normal, is_dst=True)) # put is_dst=Falseprint(time_zone.utcoffset(normal, is_dst=False))print(time_zone.dst(normal, is_dst=False))print(time_zone.tzname(normal, is_dst=False)) print("\n")print("Operations on ambiguous datetime")print(time_zone.utcoffset(ambiguous, is_dst=True))print(time_zone.dst(ambiguous, is_dst=True))print(time_zone.tzname(ambiguous, is_dst=True)) # is_dst=Falseprint(time_zone.utcoffset(ambiguous, is_dst=False))print(time_zone.dst(ambiguous, is_dst=False))print(time_zone.tzname(ambiguous, is_dst=False))
Operations on normal datetime
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST


Operations on ambiguous datetime
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST
Output:
Operations on normal datetime
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST


Operations on ambiguous datetime
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST
5:30:00
0:00:00
IST
Description: It is a class that implements the tzinfo abstract base class as a fixed offset from the UTC.
Syntax: datetime.timezone()
Python3
from datetime import datetime, timedeltafrom pytz import timezoneimport pytz utc = pytz.utcprint(utc.zone) india = timezone('Asia/Calcutta')print(india.zone) eastern = timezone('US/Eastern')print(eastern.zone) time_format = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z%z' # localize() is used to localize# datetime with no timezone informationloc_dt = india.localize(datetime(2021, 3, 16, 6, 0, 0))loc_dt = india.localize(datetime(2021, 3, 16, 6, 0, 0))print(loc_dt.strftime(time_format)) # another way of building a localized time is by converting# an existing localized time# using the standard astimezone() methodeastern_dt = loc_dt.astimezone(eastern)print(eastern_dt.strftime(time_format)) print(datetime(2021, 3, 16, 12, 0, 0, tzinfo=pytz.utc).strftime(time_format)) # 10 minutes beforebefore_dt = loc_dt - timedelta(minutes=10)print(before_dt.strftime(time_format))print(india.normalize(before_dt).strftime(time_format)) # 20 mins laterafter_dt = india.normalize(before_dt + timedelta(minutes=20))print(after_dt.strftime(time_format))
Output:
UTC
Asia/Calcutta
US/Eastern
2021-03-16 06:00:00 IST+0530
2021-03-15 20:30:00 EDT-0400
2021-03-16 12:00:00 UTC+0000
2021-03-16 05:50:00 IST+0530
2021-03-16 05:50:00 IST+0530
2021-03-16 06:10:00 IST+0530
Now we will see the program and output for each of the above-mentioned functions in the table.
1: time( ) method: The time() method returns the time as a floating-point number expressed in seconds since the epoch, in UTC.
Syntax: time.time([ ])
NOTE: It does not have any parameter
Python3
# import timeimport time #prints total number of seconds passed since epochprint(time.time())
Output:
1616692391.3081982
2: ctime( ) method 
ctime() method converts a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a string representing local time. The current time as returned by time() is used If secs is not provided or None. This method is equivalent to asctime(localtime(secs)). Locale information is not used by ctime() method.
Syntax: time.ctime([ sec ])
Where sec passed as an argument is the number of seconds to be converted Into string representation.
Python3
import time number_of_seconds=1625925769.9618232 # function takes seconds passed since epoch as an argument and returns# a string representing local timeprint(time.ctime(number_of_seconds))
Sat Jul 10 14:02:49 2021
3: sleep( ) method
Python time method sleep() stops execution for the given number of seconds. The floating-point the number can be passed as an argument to get more precise sleep time.
Syntax: time.sleep([ sec ])
where sec passed as an argument is the number of seconds for which
the process is to be stopped.
Python3
import time # prints GEEKSFORGEEKS immediatelyprint("GEEKSFORGEEKS") time.sleep(1.23) # prints GEEKSFORGEEKS after 1.23 seconds# as it stops execution for that time intervalprint("GEEKSFORGEEKS")
GEEKSFORGEEKS
GEEKSFORGEEKS
4: localtime( ) method
localtime() method converts number of seconds to local time. If secs is not provided or None, the current time as returned by time() is used. The dst flag is set to 1 when DST applies to the given time.
Syntax: time.localtime([ sec ])
Where sec passed as an argument is the number of seconds to be converted into struct_time representation.
Python3
import time # returns a time.struct_time# object with a named tuple interfaceprint(time.localtime())
Output
time.struct_time(tm_year=2021, tm_mon=3, tm_mday=30, tm_hour=8, tm_min=48, tm_sec=58, tm_wday=1, tm_yday=89, tm_isdst=0)
5: gmtime( ) method.
gmtime() method converts a time expressed in seconds since the Epoch to a struct_time in UTC in which the dst flag is always zero. If secs is not provided or None, the current time as returned by time() is used.
Syntax: time.gmtime([ sec ])
Where sec passed as an argument is the number of seconds to be converted into structure struct_time representation.
Python3
# codeimport time# returns a time.struct_time object with a named tuple interface# If secs is not provided or None,# the current time as returned by time() is usedprint(time.gmtime())
Output:
time.struct_time(tm_year=2021, tm_mon=3, tm_mday=30, tm_hour=8, tm_min=49, tm_sec=18, tm_wday=1, tm_yday=89, tm_isdst=0)
6: mktime( ) method
It is the inverse function of localtime() method. It takes an argument as struct_time or full 9-tuple and it returns a floating-point number.  If the input value is not represented as a valid time, then either OverflowError or ValueError is raised.
Syntax: time.mktime([t])
Where t passed as an argument is a time.struct_time object or a tuple containing 9 elements corresponding to time.struct_time object
Python3
# codeimport time # method mktime() is the inverse function of localtime()# Its argument is the struct_time or full 9-tuple and# it returns a floating point number, for compatibility with time(). t = (2016, 2, 15, 10, 13, 38, 1, 48, 0)d = time.mktime(t)print ("time.mktime(t) : %f" %  d)print ("asctime(localtime(secs)): %s" % time.asctime(time.localtime(d)))
time.mktime(t) : 1455531218.000000
asctime(localtime(secs)): Mon Feb 15 10:13:38 2016
7: asctime( ) method
Python time method asctime() converts a struct_time representing a time as returned by gmtime() or localtime() to a 24-character string of the following form: ‘Tue Mar 23 23:21:05 2021’.
Syntax: time.asctime([t])
Where t passed as an argument is a tuple of 9 elements or struct_time representing a time as returned by gmtime() or localtime() function.
Python3
import time# method returns 24-character string of# the following form − 'Mon March 15 23:21:05 2021' local_time = time.localtime()print ("asctime : ",time.asctime(local_time))
asctime :  Tue Mar 16 06:02:42 2021
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