How to create a file name with the current date & time in Python?

Question

Here is a functional code (create file with success)

sys.stdout = open('filename1.xml', 'w')

Now I'm trying to name the file with the current date/time (I'm not an expert in Python)

filename1 = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
sys.stdout = open(filename1 + '.xml', 'w')

I want to write out a file name with the exact date and time, it is a xml file, that the program has already create, I just need to name the file. The above code is not working.

The error returned:

  File "./fix.py", line 226, in <module>
    filenames = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'now'

Levon · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-15 22:22:14Z

625

While not using datetime, this solves your problem (answers your question) of getting a string with the current time and date format you specify:

import time
timestr = time.strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
print timestr

yields:

20120515-155045

so your filename could append or use this string.

edited May 15, 2012 at 22:22

answered May 15, 2012 at 19:48

Levon

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6 Comments

devasia2112 Over a year ago

Gotcha! time was not defined in my script and I was trying to use timedate (not work, I do not why), but with time it is clear now, the filename is created with success. Thank You so much!

David Heffernan Over a year ago

I don't know why you accepted this answer when there are two answers that explain perfectly well what was wrong with the code in the question. Nothing against the way Levon did this, it works fine, but when you say "not work, I don't know why", it seems odd because you have answers that explain why.

rwbyrd Over a year ago

When I tried the code above, I received a, "E AttributeError: 'int' object has no attribute 'strftime'" error.

Thomas Over a year ago

@rwbyrd You probably have an int variable called "time" somewhere in scope that is shadowing the time module.

Torsten Over a year ago

For the ones looking for the strftime parameters: docs.python.org/3/library/time.html#time.strftime

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Andy · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-15 19:55:09Z

88

Change this line

filename1 = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")

To

filename1 = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")

Note the extra datetime. Alternatively, change your import datetime to from datetime import datetime

answered May 15, 2012 at 19:55

Andy♦

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3 Comments

David Heffernan Over a year ago

@B4NZ41 That's not true. The error message makes it clear that your code has import datetime somewhere.

devasia2112 Over a year ago

;) Sorry! NOW I'm using import time, before I was using import datetime

David Heffernan Over a year ago

@B4NZ41 It doesn't matter what you are doing now. It matters what is in the question.

Dev Aggarwal · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-11 21:58:49Z

78

This one is much more human readable.

from datetime import datetime

datetime.now().strftime("%Y_%m_%d-%I_%M_%S_%p")

'2020_08_12-03_29_22_AM'

edited Aug 11, 2020 at 21:58

answered Aug 15, 2019 at 18:26

Dev Aggarwal

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5 Comments

Peter Over a year ago

Yes but sorting by name will not sort chronologically

Dev Aggarwal Over a year ago

I guess that just requires YYMMDD instead of DDMMYY?

Rémy Hosseinkhan Boucher Over a year ago

Now its fine for chronological sorting (it has been edited).

BrainOverflow Over a year ago

that is NOT chronologically sorted... 4 PM shows before 5 AM... I rather use: datetime.now().strftime("%Y_%m_%d-%p%I_%M_%S")

Cory Gross Over a year ago

Another option for sorting the hours chronologically is using 24-hour based timestamps instead of 12-hour based timestamps using %H instead of %I, with no need to include the AM/PM indicator %p.

David Heffernan · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-15 19:59:49Z

41

now is a class method in the class datetime in the module datetime. So you need

datetime.datetime.now()

Or you can use a different import

from datetime import datetime

Done this way allows you to use datetime.now as per the code in the question.

edited May 15, 2012 at 19:59

answered May 15, 2012 at 19:53

David Heffernan

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Comments

J. Chomel · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-07 10:04:23Z

8

I'm surprised there is not some single formatter that returns a default (and safe) 'for appending in filename' - format of the time, We could simply write FD.write('mybackup'+time.strftime('%(formatter here)') + 'ext'

"%x" instead of "%Y%m%d-%H%M%S"

edited Oct 7, 2016 at 10:04

J. Chomel

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answered Jan 20, 2016 at 2:31

oneindelijk

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Comments

Yonas Kassa · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-19 12:11:06Z

8

Here's some that I needed to include the date-time stamp in the folder name for dumping files from a web scraper.

# import time and OS modules to use to build file folder name
import datetime
import time
import os

# Build string for directory to hold files
# Output Configuration
#   drive_letter = Output device location (hard drive) 
#   folder_name = directory (folder) to receive and store PDF files

drive_letter = r'D:\\' 
folder_name = r'downloaded-files'
folder_time = datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%I-%M-%S_%p")
folder_to_save_files = drive_letter + folder_name + folder_time 

# IF no such folder exists, create one automatically
if not os.path.exists(folder_to_save_files):
    os.mkdir(folder_to_save_files)

edited Oct 19, 2021 at 12:11

Yonas Kassa

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answered Dec 26, 2019 at 3:48

Rich Lysakowski PhD

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2 Comments

oneindelijk Over a year ago

A safer way to create your path, might be: folder_to_save_files = shutil.os.path.join(drive_letter, folder_name +folder_time) (also an import shutil statement can replace the import os statement )

Rich Lysakowski PhD Over a year ago

Thanks to yosemite_k for adding the import datetime. Yes, oneindelijk that is a safer way.

mellifluous · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-04 06:46:18Z

6

This prints in an easy to read format -

import datetime

time_now  = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%m_%d_%Y_%H_%M_%S') 

print(time_now)

Output: 02_03_2021_22_44_50

answered Feb 4, 2021 at 6:46

mellifluous

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Comments

mellifluous · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-04 08:21:29Z

4

import datetime

def print_time():
    parser = datetime.datetime.now() 
    return parser.strftime("%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S")

print(print_time())

# Output>
# 03-02-2021 22:39:28

edited Feb 4, 2021 at 8:21

mellifluous

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answered Dec 10, 2020 at 11:57

Mario Cretoiu

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2 Comments

Sabito Over a year ago

Please add ``` around your code. Like this: ``` code ``` -> code. Also add some explaination.

sekrett Over a year ago

You cannot create a filename containing : on Windows.

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