New datetime
You want to know about the datetime
module in Python!
The datetime
module in Python provides classes for manipulating dates and times. It allows you to create, format, and manipulate dates and times in a variety of ways.
Here are some key features of the datetime
module:
- Date and Time Objects: The
datetime
module provides two main classes:date
andtime
. These classes represent dates and times, respectively. - Creating Dates and Times: You can create dates and times using the
date
andtime
constructors, respectively. For example:datetime.date(2022, 12, 25)
creates a date object for December 25, 2022. - Formatting Dates and Times: You can format dates and times using various methods, such as
strftime
andstrptime
. For example:datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
formats the current date and time as a string in the format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS". - Arithmetic Operations: You can perform arithmetic operations on dates and times, such as adding or subtracting days, hours, minutes, or seconds.
- Time Zones: The
datetime
module provides support for time zones, allowing you to work with dates and times in different time zones.
Some common use cases for the datetime
module include:
- Validating user input dates and times
- Storing and retrieving dates and times in a database
- Generating reports and summaries based on dates and times
- Scheduling tasks and events
Here's an example of how you might use the datetime
module:
import datetime
# Create a date object for today
today = datetime.date.today()
# Create a time object for 3:45 PM
time = datetime.time(15, 45)
# Create a datetime object for today at 3:45 PM
now = datetime.datetime.combine(today, time)
# Format the datetime object as a string
formatted_now = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print(formatted_now) # Output: 2022-12-25 15:45:00