How do i convert string to datetime in python am pm?

Specifically I have code that simplifies to this:

from datetime import datetime
date_string = '2009-11-29 03:17 PM'
format = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M %p'
my_date = datetime.strptime(date_string, format)

# This prints '2009-11-29 03:17 AM'
print my_date.strftime(format)

What gives? Does Python just ignore the period specifier when parsing dates or am I doing something stupid?

ARK

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asked Nov 18, 2009 at 22:04

Kenan BanksKenan Banks

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The Python time.strftime docs say:

When used with the strptime() function, the %p directive only affects the output hour field if the %I directive is used to parse the hour.

Sure enough, changing your %H to %I makes it work.

MattDMo

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answered Nov 18, 2009 at 22:07

Ned BatchelderNed Batchelder

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format = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M %p'

The format is using %H instead of %I. Since %H is the "24-hour" format, it's likely just discarding the %p information. It works just fine if you change the %H to %I.

answered Nov 18, 2009 at 22:09

You used %H (24 hour format) instead of %I (12 hour format).

answered Nov 18, 2009 at 22:09

Tim PietzckerTim Pietzcker

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Try replacing %H (Hour on a 24-hour clock) with %I (Hour on a 12-hour clock) ?

answered Nov 18, 2009 at 22:08

keithjgrantkeithjgrant

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>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> print(datetime.today().strftime("%H:%M %p"))
15:31 AM

Try replacing %I with %H.

answered Nov 4, 2020 at 14:04

1

We can convert a string to datetime using strptime() function. This function is available in datetime and time modules to parse a string to datetime and time objects respectively.

Python strptime()

Python strptime() is a class method in datetime class. Its syntax is:

datetime.strptime(date_string, format)

Both the arguments are mandatory and should be string. This function is exactly opposite of strftime() function, which converts datetime object to a string. We have the similar function available in time module too, where its syntax is:

time.strptime(time_string[, format])

Here the function returns struct_time object. If format string is not provided, it defaults to “%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y” which matches the formatting returned by ctime() function. If the input string cannot be parsed according to the provided format, then ValueError is raised. The exception message provides clear details about the issue in parsing.

Python strptime() format directives

Following table contains most of the commonly used format directives.

Python strptime() examples

Let’s look into some specific examples of strptime() function to convert string to datetime and time objects.

String to datetime

from datetime import datetime

datetime_str = '09/19/18 13:55:26'

datetime_object = datetime.strptime(datetime_str, '%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S')

print(type(datetime_object))
print(datetime_object)  # printed in default format

Output:

2018-09-19 13:55:26

String to date object

We can use date() function alongwith strptime() function to convert string to date object.

date_str = '09-19-2018'

date_object = datetime.strptime(date_str, '%m-%d-%Y').date()
print(type(date_object))
print(date_object)  # printed in default formatting

Output:

2018-09-19

String to time object

We can use time() function alongwith strptime() function to convert string to time object.

time_str = '13::55::26'
time_object = datetime.strptime(time_str, '%H::%M::%S').time()
print(type(time_object))
print(time_object)

Output:

13:55:26

Python time strptime() example

Let’s see some examples of using time module strptime() function.

import time

time_obj = time.strptime(time_str, '%H::%M::%S')
print(type(time_obj))
print(time_obj)

# default formatting - "%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y"
print(time.strptime('Wed Sep 19 14:55:02 2018'))

Output:

time.struct_time(tm_year=1900, tm_mon=1, tm_mday=1, tm_hour=13, tm_min=55, tm_sec=26, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=1, tm_isdst=-1)
time.struct_time(tm_year=2018, tm_mon=9, tm_mday=19, tm_hour=14, tm_min=55, tm_sec=2, tm_wday=2, tm_yday=262, tm_isdst=-1)

Python strptime() ValueError Example

We can use try-except block to catch parsing exception and perform corrective actions.

datetime_str = '09/19/18 13:55:26'

try:
    datetime_object = datetime.strptime(datetime_str, '%m/%d/%y')
except ValueError as ve:
    print('ValueError Raised:', ve)

time_str = '99::55::26'

try:
    time_object = time.strptime(time_str, '%H::%M::%S')
except ValueError as e:
    print('ValueError:', e)

Output:

ValueError Raised: unconverted data remains:  13:55:26
ValueError: time data '99::55::26' does not match format '%H::%M::%S'

Notice that the ValueError message clearly explains the root cause of the parsing exception.

Python Convert String to Datetime with locale

Let’s look at an example where a locale-specific string will be converted to datetime object. We will use locale module to set the locale to be used by python.

import locale

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'de_DE')
date_str_de_DE = '10-Dezember-2018 Montag'  # de_DE locale
datetime_object = datetime.strptime(date_str_de_DE, '%d-%B-%Y %A')
print(datetime_object)

Output: 2018-12-10 00:00:00

You can checkout complete python script and more Python examples from our GitHub Repository.

References: datetime strptime(), time strptime()

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