Python Datetime Datetime
A datetime.datetime object represents a date and time.
Usage
A datetime.datetime object is constructed as:
dt1 = datetime.datetime(2020, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59, 999999, tzinfo=None)
While the year, month, and date are required, the remaining options are optional.
dt2 = datetime.datetime(2020, 12, 31)
The components can be accessed like:
dt1.year # 2020 dt1.month # 12 dt1.day # 25 dt1.hour # 23 dt1.minute # 59 dt1.second # 59 dt1.millisecond # 999999 dt1.tzinfo # None dt1.fold # 0
Note that fold is used to indicate a time that is 'repeated' (as in 'setting the clock back').
Class Functions
Combine
Construct a datetime.datetime from a datetime.date and a datetime.time.
dt1 = datetime.datetime.combine(d1, t1)
To override the tzinfo from the datetime.time object, pass the optional tzinfo argument.
FromIsoCalendar
Construct a datetime.datetime from the year, week, and weekday.
FromIsoFormat
To construct a datetime.datetime from most valid ISO 8601 strings, try:
import datetime datetime.datetime.fromisoformat('2019-12-04') #datetime.datetime(2019, 12, 4, 0, 0) datetime.datetime.fromisoformat('20191204') #datetime.datetime(2019, 12, 4, 0, 0) datetime.datetime.fromisoformat('2011-11-04T00:05:23') #datetime.datetime(2011, 11, 4, 0, 5, 23) datetime.datetime.fromisoformat('2011-11-04T00:05:23Z') #datetime.datetime(2011, 11, 4, 0, 5, 23, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)
- Ordinal dates are not supported by this function
The T separator is allowed to be any character
- Timezone offsets are allowed to have fractional seconds
Hours and minutes are not allowed to be fractional
FromOrdinal
Construct a datetime.datetime from a proleptic Gregorian ordinal.
FromTimestamp
Construct a datetime.datetime from a string representing a POSIX timestamp.
May raise an OverflowError or OSError depending on the local libc (specifically the localtime() implementation).
To set the timezone, pass the optional tzinfo argument.
Now
A datetime.datetime representing the current date and time can be constructed like:
dt1 = datetime.datetime.now()
To set the timezone, pass the optional tzinfo argument.
StrPTime
Construct a datetime.datetime from a formatted string timestamp.
See here for an explanation of the directives.
Today
A datetime.datetime representing the current date and time (and no timezone information) can be constructed like:
dt1 = datetime.datetime.today()
UtcFromTimeStamp
Construct a datetime.datetime from a string representing a POSIX timestamp. The timezone is set to None.
May raise an OverflowError or OSError depending on the local libc (specifically the localtime() implementation).
UtcNow
A timezone naive datetime.datetime representing the current date and time in UTC.
datetime.datetime.now is preferred because naive datetime.datetime objects are assumed to be local, and this function defies that logic. Instead consider using:
import datetime datetime.datetime(2023, 4, 12, 13, 59, 53, 654456, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)
Methods
AsTimeZone
Return a copy of the datetime.datetime object with the timezone replaced and any appropriate offsets applied. If a timezone is not passed as an argument, the local timezone is used.
import datetime dt1 = datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc) dt2 = dt1.astimezone(datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(hours=-5)))
CTime
Return a string like Wed Dec 4 20:30:40 2002.
Equivalent to time.ctime(time.mktime(dt1.timetuple())).
Date
Return a datetime.date object containing the time components (year, month, day).
Dst
A passthrough to datetime.timezone.dst for the tzinfo component of datetime.datetime.
If tzinfo is None, returns None.
IsoCalendar
Return a named tuple like datetime.IsoCalendarDate(year, week, weekday).
IsoFormat
Return a string like YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS. Appends microseconds like .ffffff if not 0. Appends timezone offset like +HH:MM[:SS[.ffffff]] if not timezone naive.
IsoWeekDay
Return the weekday as an integer between 1 (Monday) and 7 (Sunday).
Replace
Return a copy of the datetime.datetime object with the specified components replaced.
import datetime dt1 = datetime.datetime(2020, 12, 25, 23, 59, 59, 999999, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc) dt2 = dt1.replace(tzinfo=None) dt3 = dt2.replace(year=2021) dt4 = dt3.replace(hour=0)
StrFTime
Return a formatted string timestamp.
See here for an explanation of the directives.
Time
Return a datetime.time object containing the time components (hour, minute, second, millisecond, and fold). Compare to datetime.datetime.timetz.
TimeStamp
Return a float representing a POSIX timestamp.
May raise an OverflowError depending on the local libc (specifically the mktime() implementation).
TimeTuple
Return a time tuple like time.localtime().
Equivalent to time.struct_time((dt1.year, dt1.month, dt1.day, dt1.hour, dt1.minute, dt1.second, dt1.weekday(), dt1.toordinal() - datetime.date(dt1.year, 1, 1).toordinal() + 1, -1)).
Note the last argument would actually be 1 if datetime.datetime.dst returned any non-zero code, or 0 if it returned 0 specifically.
TimeTz
Return a datetime.time object containing the time components and the tzinfo.
ToOrdinal
Return the proleptic Gregorian ordinal.
TzName
A passthrough to datetime.timezone.tzname for the tzinfo component of datetime.datetime.
If the datetime.datetime object is timezone naive, returns None.
UtcOffset
A passthrough to datetime.timezone.utcoffset for the tzinfo component of datetime.datetime.
If the datetime.datetime object is timezone naive, returns None.
UtcTimeTuple
Same as datetime.datetime.timetuple except that the last argument is forced to 0.
If the datetime.datetime object is not timezone naive, the time is adjusted for UTC before generating the tuple.
WeekDay
Return the weekday as an integer between 0 (Monday) and 6 (Sunday).
Operations
datetime.datetime objects can be used with the following operators and functions.
Operation |
Meaning |
dt1 + timedelta |
returns a new datetime representing dt1 incremented by the duration |
dt1 - timedelta |
returns a new datetime representing dt1 decremented by the duration |
dt1 - dt2 |
returns a datetime.timedelta |
dt1 < dt2 |
returns True if dt1 is earlier than dt2 else False |
dt1 == dt2 |
returns True if dt1 represents the same UTC or timezone naive time as dt2 else False |
Two datetime.datetime objects can only be used in operations together if both have timezone information, or both are naive to timezones. Mixing categories will raise a TypeError, except for the == and != operators (which will always indicate that the two are unlike)..