TypeError: must be string, not datetime.datetime when using strptime

Question

I am trying to write a function in Python 2.7 that converts a series of numbers into a valid date. So far, it all works apart form the conversion.

Here is the relevant code:

import datetime

def convert_date(x,y,z):
    orig_date = datetime.datetime(x,y,z)
    d = datetime.datetime.strptime(str(orig_date), '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
    result = d.strftime('%m-%d-%Y')
    return orig_date

a = convert_date(13,11,12)
print a

Whenever I run this, I get:

> Traceback (most recent call last):
>       File "test.py", line 9, in <module>
>         a = convert_date(13,11,12)
>       File "test.py", line 5, in convert_date
>         d = datetime.datetime.strptime(orig_date, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')

> TypeError: must be string, not datetime.datetime

I know that this is because strptime gives me a datetime object, but how do I get this to work?

Get rid of the except: pass and you'll see what's wrong. This is exactly why except:pass is never a good idea, when you want to pass on an exception you should specify which exception. — Kos
– Kos, Commented May 7, 2016 at 20:40
Thanks, I get AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'strptime' — Fake Name
– Fake Name, Commented May 7, 2016 at 20:45

Aashish Chaubey · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-17 17:52:48Z

31

For anyone who runs into this problem in the future I figured I might as well explain how I got this working.

Here is my code:

from datetime import datetime

def convert_date(x,y,z):
    orig_date = datetime(x,y,z)
    orig_date = str(orig_date)
    d = datetime.strptime(orig_date, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
    d = d.strftime('%m/%d/%y')
    return d

As I should have figured out from the error message before I posted, I just needed to convert orig_date to a string before using strftime.

edited Sep 17, 2019 at 17:52

Aashish Chaubey

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answered May 8, 2016 at 3:14

Fake Name

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