Python strftime()

In this article, you will learn to convert date, time and datetime objects to its equivalent string (with the help of examples)

The strftime() method returns a string representing date and time using date, time or datetime object.

1. Example 1: datetime to string using strftime()

The program below converts a datetime object containing current date and time to different string formats.

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)

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)

When you run the program, the output will something like be:

year: 2018
month: 12
day: 24
time: 04:59:31
date and time: 12/24/2018, 04:59:31

Here, year, day, time and date_time are strings, whereas now is a datetime object.

2. How strftime() works?

In the above program, %Y, %m, %d etc. are format codes. The strftime() method takes one or more format codes as an argument and returns a formatted string based on it.

1. We imported datetime class from the datetime module. It’s because the object of datetime class can access strftime() method.
   
   
2. The datetime object containing current date and time is stored in now variable.
   
   
3. The strftime() method can be used to create formatted strings.
   
   
4. The string you pass to the strftime() method may contain more than one format codes.
   
   

3. Example 2: Creating string from a timestamp

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1528797322
date_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

print("Date time object:", date_time)

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

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

d = date_time.strftime("%d %B, %Y")
print("Output 4:", d)

d = date_time.strftime("%I%p")
print("Output 5:", d)

When you run the program, the output will be:

Date time object: 2018-06-12 09:55:22
Output 2: 06/12/2018, 09:55:22
Output 3: 12 Jun, 2018
Output 4: 12 June, 2018
Output 5: 09AM

4. Format Code List

The table below shows all the codes that you can pass to the strftime() method.

5. Example 3: Locale’s appropriate date and time

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1528797322
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)

When you run the program, the output will be:

Output 1: Tue Jun 12 09:55:22 2018
Output 2: 06/12/18
Output 3: 09:55:22

Format codes %c, %x and %X are used for locale’s appropriate date and time representation.

We also recommend you to check Python strptime(). The strptime() method creates a datetime object from a string.