Python string to date conversion

Question

I am using Python 2.7.3 and trying to parse a CSV file using csv reader as:

   date_format = '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M%'
   with open(data_base+data_file_short, 'rb') as f:
    reader = csv.reader(f)
    for row in reader:
     #use row here to convert string to date
     dateObj1 = datetime.strptime(row[1],date_format)

But I keep getting this error:

ValueError: time data 'PostCreationDate' does not match format '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M'

If i print date it shows 8/3/2012 21:46 which seems to fit with my date_format string.

nneonneo · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-19 03:28:11Z

1

You're trying to interpret the header row of your CSV as a data row, which (as you can see) will not work.

Consider using a csv.DictReader instead so you can automatically handle the header row, and don't have to hardcode the row indices.

answered Sep 19, 2012 at 3:28

nneonneo

181k37 gold badges331 silver badges412 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Moon Over a year ago

Spot on! Thanks a lot, for some reason I just could not think about first row!

jfs Over a year ago

@Moon: you could skip the first line (header) using next(f).

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Python string to date conversion

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related