📅 Datetime and Time¶

The datetime module in Python is used for dealing with dates and time.

1. The Datetime Object¶

You can create a datetime object to represent a specific point in time:

In [1]:

from datetime import datetime

# Create a datetime object for the current date and time
now = datetime.now()

print(now)  # e.g., prints: year-month-day hour:minute:second.microsecond

from datetime import datetime # Create a datetime object for the current date and time now = datetime.now() print(now) # e.g., prints: year-month-day hour:minute:second.microsecond

2023-07-04 20:47:49.435519

1.2 The Date Object¶

You can also create a date object to represent a date without a time:

In [2]:

from datetime import date

# Create a date object for the current date
today = date.today()

print(today)  # e.g., prints: year-month-day

from datetime import date # Create a date object for the current date today = date.today() print(today) # e.g., prints: year-month-day

2023-07-04

3. The Timedelta Object¶

timedelta objects represent a duration, or the difference between two dates or times:

In [3]:

from datetime import timedelta

# Create a timedelta of 7 days
week = timedelta(days=7)

# Add 7 days to today's date
next_week = today + week

print(next_week)  # e.g., prints: year-month-day

from datetime import timedelta # Create a timedelta of 7 days week = timedelta(days=7) # Add 7 days to today's date next_week = today + week print(next_week) # e.g., prints: year-month-day

2023-07-11

4. Formatting Dates and Times¶

You can format datetime objects as strings using the strftime method, which stands for "string format time". You can also convert strings to datetime objects using the strptime method, which stands for "string parse time".

In [4]:

from datetime import datetime

now = datetime.now()

# Convert datetime to string
date_string = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print(date_string)  # e.g., prints: 2023-07-02 18:42:05

# Convert string to datetime
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print(date_object)  # e.g., prints: year-month-day hour:minute:second

from datetime import datetime now = datetime.now() # Convert datetime to string date_string = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") print(date_string) # e.g., prints: 2023-07-02 18:42:05 # Convert string to datetime date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") print(date_object) # e.g., prints: year-month-day hour:minute:second

2023-07-04 20:47:49
2023-07-04 20:47:49

5. The time() function¶

The time() function returns the number of seconds passed since epoch. The epoch is the point where the time starts, and it is platform dependent. For Unix system, the epoch is 1st January 1970.

In [5]:

import time

seconds = time.time()
print(f"Seconds since epoch: {seconds}")  # e.g., prints: Seconds since epoch, epoch starts at 1970-01-01 00:00:00

import time seconds = time.time() print(f"Seconds since epoch: {seconds}") # e.g., prints: Seconds since epoch, epoch starts at 1970-01-01 00:00:00

Seconds since epoch: 1688496469.474827

6. The sleep() function¶

The sleep() function suspends (delays) execution of the current thread for the given number of seconds.

In [6]:

import time

print("This is printed immediately.")
time.sleep(2.5)  # waits for 2.5 seconds
print("This is printed after 2.5 seconds.")

import time print("This is printed immediately.") time.sleep(2.5) # waits for 2.5 seconds print("This is printed after 2.5 seconds.")

This is printed immediately.
This is printed after 2.5 seconds.