How to parse JSON datetime string in python?

Question

From python I am making a call to a remote API which returns data in a JSON format. I then parse the data using the json module with json.loads(). The problem I am having is with dates - the system I am calling returns the date formatted like the following:

/Date(1354011247940+0000)/

which json.parse just parses out as a string. How can I convert this to a python date time object?

Edit: unlike Convert JSON to Python object: how to handle DateTime conversion?, I have no control over the data being sent, so I can not simply change the format prior to serializing.

moonsly · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-27 19:52:36Z

5

You should get unix timestamp with a regex from this date, then use datetime module to convert it to readable format:

>m = re.search(r"Date\((\d+)\+", 'Date(1354011247940+0000)')
>print(datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(int(m.group(1))/1000.0).strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'))
2012-11-27 12:14:07

UPD: note , that you also have milliseconds in this date, they will be truncated by this code

answered Nov 27, 2012 at 19:52

moonsly

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2 Comments

user2480542 Over a year ago

What should be the other way around...given that I have mm-yyyy formatted date and I want to convert it into a date object like xxxxxxxxx ..?

Softec Over a year ago

In order to read negative number (i.e.date before 1 Jan 1970) change regex to like re.search(r"Date(([+-]\d+)\+", 'Date(1354011247940+0000)') Please note added [+-] to read the sign.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:08:53Z

1

Have you checked Convert JSON to Python object: how to handle DateTime conversion??

This looks very similar - and an alternative way to what moonsly provided, although, I think moonsly has provided a more 'pythonic' approach than what is provided in the other similar thread (IMO)

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:08

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 27, 2012 at 20:03

J Carroll

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1 Comment

ibrewster Over a year ago

Yes, I looked at that - but the accepted (and only) answer says to change the format of the string when serializing, which is not an option here. I have no control over the data or how it is serialized.

knowingpark · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-11 23:47:15Z

I couldn't add this to the comments of moonsly's answer (no rep), so I made it a separate answer. Just wanted to add a few things others may find useful. I had this same issue but the json dates were appearing in my data a little differently (ie no + sign):

/Date(1416458650000)/

There are 9 or 13 character strings. The 9 char strings don't need to be divided by 1000.0. I also didn't use regex to extract the time string.

MILLISECONDS = '/Date(1416458650000)/'.split('(')[1][:-2]
print datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(int(MILLISECONDS)/1000.0).strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
2014-11-20 15:44:10

I can also do

SECONDS = '/Date(1416458650000)/'.split('(')[1][:-5]
print datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(float(SECONDS)).strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
2014-11-20 15:44:10

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