Converting a list of datetime objects to strings

Question

I want to convert a list of datetime objects into strings, but am confused on how to accomplish this task.

hm=dt.date(2013,1,2)
t=hm.strftime('%m/%d/%Y')
t

This produces : '01/02/2013'

However, when I change up the variable to be a list of dates as so, it throws off an error.

hm=[dt.date(2013,1,1), dt.date(2013,1,2)]
t=hm.strftime('%m/%d/%Y')
t

Error: list indices must be integers or slices, not datetime.date

Do I need to use some sort of for loop to accomplish this task?

use a list comprehension: t_strings = [t.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') for t in [dt.date(2013,1,1), dt.date(2013,1,2)]] — FObersteiner
– FObersteiner, Commented May 15, 2020 at 12:55

dcg · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-15 12:55:05Z

2

You need to iterate over the list to convert each individual date into a string:

>>> t = [d.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') for d in hm]

Or if you want a string with all dates converted to a string concatenated by some other string (let's say ,) you can also do as:

>>> s = ', '.join(t)

answered May 15, 2020 at 12:55

dcg

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2 Comments

How does this look using the standard for looping procedure?

This is what is call list comprehension. You can take a look here

Lateralus · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-15 13:05:19Z

1

If you want to solve this problem with a "conventional" for loop you can use:

import datetime as dt

hm = [dt.date(2013, 1, 1), dt.date(2013, 1, 2)]
t = []

for date in hm:
    t.append(date.strftime('%m/%d/%Y'))

Otherwise the answer posted by dcg would be a cleaner and much better method.

answered May 15, 2020 at 12:59

Lateralus

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