How to convert string into datetime object in python?

Question

I have date in following format

 d  = '2014-03-17 13:57:59-07:00'

How do I convert the above into timestamp object The following works

d1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(d, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S-07:00")

But then 7 is hardcoded.. i am not sure what that is? How do i ignore that part

@PadraicCunningham.. but in my data.. sometimes it is 7 and sometimes it is 8 or somethng else.. how do i parse it — frazman
– frazman, Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 18:31
Simplest way is to install and use dateutil.parser.parse(d) — Padraic Cunningham
– Padraic Cunningham, Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 18:32
%z is the utc offset code, see strftime.org and try d1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(d, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z") — user4322779
– user4322779, Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 18:38
@PadraicCunningham: thank you for pointing that out. With Python 3, time.strftime's %z directive unfortunately does not support colon in time zone offset. The colon could be removed with re.sub for a Python 3 solution and arrow suppports time zone offsets with and without a colon for Python 2 and 3. — user4322779
– user4322779, Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 21:34

Simeon Visser · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-06 18:33:31Z

4

You can use the dateutil package which supports parsing a string to a datetime. You can install it by doing:

pip install python-dateutil

And then:

import dateutil.parser

d = dateutil.parser.parse('2014-03-17 13:57:59-07:00')

The 7 or 8 in your dates is the offset from UTC - it is used to indicate in what timezone the datetime is located.

answered Sep 6, 2015 at 18:33

Simeon Visser

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-06 21:24:33Z

1

Arrow has format directives for time zone offsets with and without a colon, functionality for converting to and from datetime objects and works with Python 2 and 3. Assuming that its been installed, which can be done with 'pip install arrow', here is how it can be used to convert '2014-03-17 13:57:59-07:00' to a datetime object:

import arrow
d = '2014-03-17 13:57:59-07:00'
f = 'YYYY-MM-DD H:mm:ssZ'
d1 = arrow.get(d, f).datetime

Documentation for arrow is at http://crsmithdev.com/arrow/.

edited Sep 6, 2015 at 21:24

answered Sep 6, 2015 at 21:01

user4322779

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