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Dealing with Dates and Times in Python
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Course Content

Dealing with Dates and Times in Python

Dealing with Dates and Times in Python

1. Working with Dates
What Day is it Today?Creating a Date ObjectDate AttributesDate MethodsDate FormatsOne More FormattingDate DifferenceArithmetic Operations with timedelta Objects
2. Working with Times
What Time is it Now?Creating a datetime ObjectDatetime AttributesDatetime MethodsDatetime Formats12-Hour and 24-Hour FormatsDate and Time DifferenceReading Date and Time from String
3. Timezones and Daylight Savings Time (DST)
The Variery of TimezonesTimezone ExamplesApplying Timezone to Datetime ObjectWhat Time is it in ... ?Daylight Savings Time
4. Working with Dates and Times in pandas
Challenge: What Will We Work With?Challenge: Converting Columns into datetime TypeChallenge: Extreme Trips DurationsChallenge: InvestigationChallenge: Negative Trip DurationChallenge: Is this Common Issue?Challenge: Fixing the IssuesChallenge: Average Metrics Across Taxi TypesChallenge: Corrected Metrics Across Taxi TypesChallenge: Group by Period?

bookReading Date and Time from String

By this time we can convert dates and times into strings of desired formats. But there is one important moment - into strings. The functionality we learned before can not be applied to strings. So, there has to be a revert way.

Of course, it exists! Consider datetime object named test. We used test.strftime(pattern) to convert datetime object into some pattern string. To convert string s into datetime object you need to use datetime.strptime(s, pattern). This will convert the string into a default datetime object. The pattern within the function - is the pattern of string you want to convert into datetime object. So, there you need to detect all the necessary codes satisfying the string. For example, imagine we have the string "1 November, 2021". There we can see the day of the month, month name, and 4-digit year. Therefore the necessary codes are %d, %B, and %Y.


              
123456789

            
# Load classes from library
from datetime import datetime

# String with date
s = '1 November, 2021'

# Parse string to datetime
dt = datetime.strptime(s, "%d %B, %Y")
print(f"String '{s}' converted to datetime: {dt}")
copy

Task

You are given two strings d1 and d2 with dates and times. You need to convert them to datetime objects and save them in variables dt1 and dt2 respectively. Read the second string as May 23, 2019. Follow the table with the codes below, or take the hint to see the codes needed.

Format codeMeaningExample
%dDay of the month as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 30, 31
%mMonth as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%yYear without century as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, 02, ..., 98, 99
%YYear with century as a decimal number0001, 0002, 1999, 2000, 2001, ...
%bMonth as locale’s abbreviated nameJan, Feb, ..., Nov, Dec
%BMonth as locale’s full nameJanuary, February, ..., November, December
%aWeekday as locale’s abbreviated nameSun, Mon, ..., Fri, Sat
%AWeekday as locale’s full nameSunday, Monday, ..., Friday, Saturday
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 23, 24
%MMinute as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%SSecond as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 22, 23
%IHour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%pLocale’s equivalent of either AM or PMAM, PM

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Section 2. Chapter 8
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bookReading Date and Time from String

By this time we can convert dates and times into strings of desired formats. But there is one important moment - into strings. The functionality we learned before can not be applied to strings. So, there has to be a revert way.

Of course, it exists! Consider datetime object named test. We used test.strftime(pattern) to convert datetime object into some pattern string. To convert string s into datetime object you need to use datetime.strptime(s, pattern). This will convert the string into a default datetime object. The pattern within the function - is the pattern of string you want to convert into datetime object. So, there you need to detect all the necessary codes satisfying the string. For example, imagine we have the string "1 November, 2021". There we can see the day of the month, month name, and 4-digit year. Therefore the necessary codes are %d, %B, and %Y.


              
123456789

            
# Load classes from library
from datetime import datetime

# String with date
s = '1 November, 2021'

# Parse string to datetime
dt = datetime.strptime(s, "%d %B, %Y")
print(f"String '{s}' converted to datetime: {dt}")
copy

Task

You are given two strings d1 and d2 with dates and times. You need to convert them to datetime objects and save them in variables dt1 and dt2 respectively. Read the second string as May 23, 2019. Follow the table with the codes below, or take the hint to see the codes needed.

Format codeMeaningExample
%dDay of the month as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 30, 31
%mMonth as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%yYear without century as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, 02, ..., 98, 99
%YYear with century as a decimal number0001, 0002, 1999, 2000, 2001, ...
%bMonth as locale’s abbreviated nameJan, Feb, ..., Nov, Dec
%BMonth as locale’s full nameJanuary, February, ..., November, December
%aWeekday as locale’s abbreviated nameSun, Mon, ..., Fri, Sat
%AWeekday as locale’s full nameSunday, Monday, ..., Friday, Saturday
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 23, 24
%MMinute as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%SSecond as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 22, 23
%IHour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%pLocale’s equivalent of either AM or PMAM, PM

Switch to desktopSwitch to desktop for real-world practiceContinue from where you are using one of the options below
Everything was clear?

How can we improve it?

Thanks for your feedback!

Section 2. Chapter 8
toggle bottom row

bookReading Date and Time from String

By this time we can convert dates and times into strings of desired formats. But there is one important moment - into strings. The functionality we learned before can not be applied to strings. So, there has to be a revert way.

Of course, it exists! Consider datetime object named test. We used test.strftime(pattern) to convert datetime object into some pattern string. To convert string s into datetime object you need to use datetime.strptime(s, pattern). This will convert the string into a default datetime object. The pattern within the function - is the pattern of string you want to convert into datetime object. So, there you need to detect all the necessary codes satisfying the string. For example, imagine we have the string "1 November, 2021". There we can see the day of the month, month name, and 4-digit year. Therefore the necessary codes are %d, %B, and %Y.


              
123456789

            
# Load classes from library
from datetime import datetime

# String with date
s = '1 November, 2021'

# Parse string to datetime
dt = datetime.strptime(s, "%d %B, %Y")
print(f"String '{s}' converted to datetime: {dt}")
copy

Task

You are given two strings d1 and d2 with dates and times. You need to convert them to datetime objects and save them in variables dt1 and dt2 respectively. Read the second string as May 23, 2019. Follow the table with the codes below, or take the hint to see the codes needed.

Format codeMeaningExample
%dDay of the month as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 30, 31
%mMonth as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%yYear without century as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, 02, ..., 98, 99
%YYear with century as a decimal number0001, 0002, 1999, 2000, 2001, ...
%bMonth as locale’s abbreviated nameJan, Feb, ..., Nov, Dec
%BMonth as locale’s full nameJanuary, February, ..., November, December
%aWeekday as locale’s abbreviated nameSun, Mon, ..., Fri, Sat
%AWeekday as locale’s full nameSunday, Monday, ..., Friday, Saturday
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 23, 24
%MMinute as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%SSecond as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 22, 23
%IHour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%pLocale’s equivalent of either AM or PMAM, PM

Switch to desktopSwitch to desktop for real-world practiceContinue from where you are using one of the options below
Everything was clear?

How can we improve it?

Thanks for your feedback!

By this time we can convert dates and times into strings of desired formats. But there is one important moment - into strings. The functionality we learned before can not be applied to strings. So, there has to be a revert way.

Of course, it exists! Consider datetime object named test. We used test.strftime(pattern) to convert datetime object into some pattern string. To convert string s into datetime object you need to use datetime.strptime(s, pattern). This will convert the string into a default datetime object. The pattern within the function - is the pattern of string you want to convert into datetime object. So, there you need to detect all the necessary codes satisfying the string. For example, imagine we have the string "1 November, 2021". There we can see the day of the month, month name, and 4-digit year. Therefore the necessary codes are %d, %B, and %Y.


              
123456789

            
# Load classes from library
from datetime import datetime

# String with date
s = '1 November, 2021'

# Parse string to datetime
dt = datetime.strptime(s, "%d %B, %Y")
print(f"String '{s}' converted to datetime: {dt}")
copy

Task

You are given two strings d1 and d2 with dates and times. You need to convert them to datetime objects and save them in variables dt1 and dt2 respectively. Read the second string as May 23, 2019. Follow the table with the codes below, or take the hint to see the codes needed.

Format codeMeaningExample
%dDay of the month as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 30, 31
%mMonth as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%yYear without century as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, 02, ..., 98, 99
%YYear with century as a decimal number0001, 0002, 1999, 2000, 2001, ...
%bMonth as locale’s abbreviated nameJan, Feb, ..., Nov, Dec
%BMonth as locale’s full nameJanuary, February, ..., November, December
%aWeekday as locale’s abbreviated nameSun, Mon, ..., Fri, Sat
%AWeekday as locale’s full nameSunday, Monday, ..., Friday, Saturday
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 23, 24
%MMinute as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%SSecond as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 58, 59
%HHour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number00, 01, ..., 22, 23
%IHour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number01, 02, ..., 11, 12
%pLocale’s equivalent of either AM or PMAM, PM

Switch to desktopSwitch to desktop for real-world practiceContinue from where you are using one of the options below
Section 2. Chapter 8
Switch to desktopSwitch to desktop for real-world practiceContinue from where you are using one of the options below
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