Introduction to datetime module
• Provides classes for working with date and
time.
• Used in event logging, database tracking, data
validation, and storing timestamps.
• Essential for real-world applications like
banking, scheduling, and logging.
Getting the current date & Creating date
objects
• Use datetime.date.today()
to get the current local
date.
• Attributes: year, month,
day (read-only).
• Create date: date(year,
month, day).
Creating date from timestamp
• The date class gives us the ability to create a date object from
a timestamp.
• Timestamp = seconds since Jan 1, 1970 (Unix epoch).
• Use date.fromtimestamp() with time.time().
Creating date with ISO format
• Use date.fromisoformat('YYYY-MM-DD') for ISO format.
replace() and weekday methods
• replace() creates a new date with modified year, month, or day.
• weekday(): 0 = Monday, 6 = Sunday.
• isoweekday(): 1 = Monday, 7 = Sunday (ISO 8601).
Creating time objects
• Use time(hour, minute, second, microsecond).
• Attributes: hour, minute, second, microsecond.
The time module & sleep function
• time.sleep(seconds) suspends program execution.
• Useful for simulating delays or pauses in execution.
ctime(), gmtime(), and localtime()
• ctime(): Converts timestamp to readable string.
• gmtime(): Returns UTC struct_time.
• localtime(): Returns local struct_time.
asctime() and mktime()
• asctime(): Converts struct_time to a string.
• mktime(): Converts struct_time to seconds
since epoch.
Creating datetime objects
• datetime(year, month, day, hour, minute, second).
• Combines date and time in one object.
• Methods:
• date() returns date,
• time() returns time.
Getting current datetime
• today(): Current local date and time (tzinfo=None).
• now(): Same as today(), optional tz argument.
• utcnow(): Current UTC date and time.
Timestamps & Formatting
• timestamp(): Returns seconds since epoch as float.
• strftime(): Format date/time using directives (%Y, %m, %d,
etc.).
• Example:
strptime() and timedelta
• strptime(): Parses string to datetime using format.
• timedelta: Represents duration (days, seconds,
microseconds).
• Supports arithmetic with date and datetime objects.
timedelta operations
• Supports addition, subtraction, and
multiplication.
• Can calculate differences between two
dates/times.
• Internally stores days, seconds, and
microseconds.
