Python: Get Today’s Current Date and Time

H

ow do I find out the current date and time in Python? What is the module or function I need to use to get current time or date in Python programming language?

 

You can use time module (low level) which provides various time-related functions. However, this module is always available, not all functions are available on all platforms. Hence, you need to use the datetime (high level Object-oriented interface to dates and times) module in Python. It provides classes for manipulating dates and times in both simple and complex ways. While date and time arithmetic is supported, the focus of the implementation is on efficient attribute extraction for output formatting and manipulation.

Getting current time in python using time module

The syntax is:

time.strftime(format)

24 hour format ##

time.strftime( %H:%M:%S )

12 hour format ##

time.strftime( %I:%M:%S )

Examples

A simple program in python to get today’s date and time:

#!/usr/bin/python

 

import time

print (time.strftime( %H:%M:%S ))

 

12 hour format ##

print (time.strftime( %I:%M:%S ))

Sample outputs:

23:46:08

11:46:08

To print current date use:

#!/usr/bin/python

 

import time

dd/mm/yyyy format

print (time.strftime( %d/%m/%Y ))

Sample outputs:

04/10/2013

GETTING LOCALS DATE AND TIME IN PYTHON

#!/usr/bin/python

 

import time

 

now = time.strftime( %c )

date and time representation

print  Current date & time   + time.strftime( %c )

 

Only date representation

print  Current date    + time.strftime( %x )

 

Only time representation

print  Current time   + time.strftime( %X )

 

Display current date and time from now variable

print ( Current time %s   % now )

Sample outputs:

Current date & time Sat Oct  5 00:04:59 2013

Current date 10/05/13

Current time 00:04:59

Current time Sat Oct  5 00:04:59 2013

Format strings

The following directives can be embedded in the format string:

Directive Meaning

%a Weekday name.

%A Full weekday name.

%b Abbreviated month name.

%B Full month name.

%c Appropriate date and time representation.

%d Day of the month as a decimal number [01,31].

%H Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number [00,23].

%I Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number [01,12].

%j Day of the year as a decimal number [001,366].

%m Month as a decimal number [01,12].

%M Minute as a decimal number [00,59].

%p Equivalent of either AM or PM.

%S Second as a decimal number [00,61].

%U Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53]. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0.

%w Weekday as a decimal number [0(Sunday),6].

%W Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53]. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0.

%x Appropriate date representation.

%X Apropriate time representation.

%y Year without century as a decimal number [00,99].

%Y Year with century as a decimal number.

%Z Time zone name (no characters if no time zone exists).

%% A literal ‘%’ character.

Get the current date and time in Python using datetime module

The syntax is:

now = datetime.datetime.now()

now.hour

now.mintue

now.year

now.day

now.month

Examples

#!/usr/bin/python

import datetime

i = datetime.datetime.now()

 

print ( Current date & time = %s  % i)

 

print ( Date and time in ISO format = %s  % i.isoformat() )

 

print ( Current year = %s  %i.year)

 

print ( Current month = %s  %i.month)

 

print ( Current date (day) =  %s  %i.day)

 

print ( dd/mm/yyyy format =  %s/%s/%s  % (i.day, i.month, i.year) )

 

print ( Current hour = %s  %i.hour)

 

print ( Current minute = %s  %i.minute)

 

print ( Current second =  %s  %i.second)

 

print ( hh:mm:ss format = %s:%s:%s  % (i.hour, i.month, i.second) )

Sample outputs:

Current date & time = 2013-10-05 00:15:31.769049

Date and time in ISO format = 2013-10-05T00:15:31.769049

Current year = 2013

Current month = 10

Current date (day) =  5

dd/mm/yyyy format =  5/10/2013

Current hour = 0

Current minute = 15

Current second =  31

hh:mm:ss format = 0:10:31

You can use date.strftime(format) to get a string representing the date, controlled by an explicit format string (see above table):

#!/usr/bin/python

 

from datetime import datetime

 

i = datetime.now()

 

print str(i)

 

print i.strftime( %Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S )

Sample outputs:

2013-10-05 00:20:30.495228

2013/10/05 00:20:30

References:

See python time and datetime module for more info.

 

 

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