parse_dates cannot convert string to datetime

Question

I try to read a CSV from the link https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LinkedInLearning/data_cleaning_python_2883183/main/Ch04/challenge/traffic.csv

df = pd.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LinkedInLearning/data_cleaning_python_2883183/main/Ch04/challenge/traffic.csv', parse_dates=['time'])

But, the time column is still in string format.

df.dtypes 
[output]
ip        object
time      object
path      object
status     int64
size       int64
dtype: object

Interestingly, when I read a similar csv from a different url, it works. So

df = pd.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LinkedInLearning/data_cleaning_python_2883183/main/Ch04/solution/traffic.csv', parse_dates=['time'])

indeed converts the time column to a datetime object. Why does parse_dates fail in the first link and how can I fix it?

It's a data cleaning exercise - so investigate the data after this initial pass - what's in the column now - which types are the values, what are the failing cases? Go forth and learn about data cleaning. — ramslök
– ramslök, Commented Jun 27, 2022 at 8:21

jezrael · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-27 08:21:30Z

1

There is typo in datetimes:

1017-06-19 14:46:24

Possible solution is convert values to NaT:

df['time'] = pd.to_datetime(df['time'], errors='coerce')

answered Jun 27, 2022 at 8:21

jezrael

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