Using datetime.strftime() in Python programming language

One important aspect of programming is working with dates and time. Python provides powerful tools to work with dates and time, including the datetime module. In this tutorial, we will focus on one of the most useful methods of the datetime module, which is the  strftime()  method. This method allows us to format dates and times in a specific way according to our needs.

How to convert datetime to string using strftime()

• Python's  datetime.strftime()  function formats a  datetime  object into a string. 
• The string can be of a specific format or a generic one. 
• strftime arguments :
  • The first argument is the  datetime  object. 
  • The second argument is the string format. 
• Some examples: 

import datetime

dt = datetime.datetime(2018, 1, 1)

d1 = dt.strftime('%A, %B %d')
print(d1)

d1 = dt.strftime('%c')
print(d1)

d1 = dt.strftime('%x')
print(d1)

d1 = dt.strftime('%X')
print(d1)


# Output
# Monday, January 01
# Mon Jan  1 00:00:00 2018
# 01/01/18
# 00:00:00

How strftime() works

•  strftime()  takes a format string as an argument, 
• The format string specifies the format of the output string.
• The format string can contain format codes that are replaced with the corresponding values from the  datetime object.
• Code Sample :

import datetime

# Create a datetime object
dt = datetime.datetime(2019, 9, 12, 10, 30, 0)

# Format the datetime object
formatted_str = dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")

# Print the formatted string
print(formatted_str)


# Output
# 2019-09-12 10:30:00

Format Code List in tabular form

• The format string can contain any of the format codes listed below. 

How to create string from a Timestamp :

• Timestamps can be converted to  datetime  objects using the  datetime.fromtimestamp()  method.
• These  datetime  objects can then be converted to strings using  strftime() .
• Code Sample :

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1646153014.449067
dt_object = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

datetime_string = dt_object.strftime("%d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S")
print("Datetime string:", datetime_string)


# Output
# Datetime string: 01-Mar-2022 22:13:34

Locale's Appropriate Date and Time :

• The  strftime()  method can also format dates and times according to the current locale using the  %c  code.
• The  locale  module can be used to set the system's locale.
• Code Sample  :

import datetime
import locale

# Set the locale
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US')

# Create a datetime object
dt = datetime.datetime(2021, 9, 22, 10, 30, 0)

# Format the datetime object
formatted_str = dt.strftime("%c")

# Print the formatted string
print("Formatted String : ",formatted_str)

# Output
# Formatted String :  9/22/2021 10:30:00 AM