Strptime Error in Python

Question

I've been banging my head against a wall with the following error:

time
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "csvtest.py", line 37, in <module>
    date = time.strptime(datestring, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/_strptime.py", line 454, in _strptime_time
    return _strptime(data_string, format)[0]
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/_strptime.py", line 325, in _strptime
    (data_string, format))
ValueError: time data 'time' does not match format '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'

The input is a row from a file with the format -- the year is purposefully junk data:

3354-03-16 15:30:00
3354-03-16 16:00:00
3354-03-16 16:30:00
3354-03-16 16:30:00

The code I'm using is below:

import sys
import csv
from datetime import datetime
import time

filename = open('data.csv', 'rb')


spam = csv.reader(filename, delimiter=',')
for row in spam:

    datestring = row[4] 
    print datestring
    date = time.strptime(datestring, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
filename.close()

time.strptime('3354-03-16 16:30:00', "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") returns time.struct_time(tm_year=3354, tm_mon=3, tm_mday=16, tm_hour=16, tm_min=30, tm_sec=0, tm_wday=5, tm_yday=75, tm_isdst=-1) are you sure datestring contains the data above? — johnsyweb
– johnsyweb, Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 16:30
Fix implement was simply to add "next(spam)" line between spam definition and for row in spam block. — Lillian Milagros Carrasquillo
– Lillian Milagros Carrasquillo, Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 16:44

NPE · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-06 16:30:06Z

6

There's nothing wrong with the format or the date strings.

I bet your file has a header row, and the code chokes on that.

answered Feb 6, 2012 at 16:30

NPE

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4 Comments

DSM Over a year ago

Works for me too, and when I introduce a header row this is exactly the error I get.

Lillian Milagros Carrasquillo Over a year ago

You guys are fast! Thank you. I'm new to Python and realized my pre-process script did keep the headers.

NPE Over a year ago

@LillianMilagrosCarrasquillo: The mention of 'time' in the error message was a bit of a giveaway ;-)

DSM Over a year ago

@LillianMilagrosCarrasquillo: when people present a short code exhibiting the problem that can be cut-and-pasted for people to try out, and they post exactly the error message they see, they make it easy to figure out problems and therefore they get quick responses. Don't forget to accept aix's answer if you found it helpful!

Bogdan · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-06 16:32:48Z

1

You can see from the error itself what the problem is:

ValueError: time data 'time' does not match format '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'

So you pass as input a string 'time', probably the header of the csv file. Just skip that row.

answered Feb 6, 2012 at 16:32

Bogdan

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