Python: How to convert a timestamp string to a datetime object using datetime.strptime()

In this tutorial, we will learn how to convert a timestamp string to a datetime object using datetime.strptime(). Also, you can understand how to to create a datetime object from a string in Python with examples below.

• String to a DateTime object using datetime.strptime()
• Format Code List
• How strptime() works?
• Examples of converting a Time String in the format codes using strptime() method

String to a DateTime object using datetime.strptime()

Thestrptime()method generates a datetime object from the given string.

Datetime module provides a datetime class that has a method to convert string to a datetime object.

Syntax:

datetime.strptime(date_string, format)

So in the above syntax, you can see that it accepts a string containing a timestamp. It parses the string according to format codes and returns a datetime object created from it.

First import datetime class from datetime module to use this,

from datetime import datetime

Also Read:

• Python: How to remove characters from a string by Index?
• Convert integer to string in Python

Complete Format Code List

How strptime() works?

In thestrptime()class method, it takes two arguments:

• string (that be converted to datetime)
• format code

In the accordance with the string and format code used, the method returns its equivalent datetime object.

Let’s see the following example, to understand how it works:

where,

%d – Represents the day of the month. Example: 01, 02, …, 31
%B – Month’s name in full. Example: January, February etc.
%Y – Year in four digits. Example: 2018, 2019 etc.

Examples of converting a Time String in the format codes using strptime() method

Just have a look at the few examples on how to convert timestamp string to a datetime object using datetime.strptime() in Python and gain enough knowledge on it.

Example 1:

Let’s take an example,

from datetime import datetime
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('2021-05-17T15::11::45.456777', '%Y-%m-%dT%H::%M::%S.%f')
print(datetimeObj)
print(type(datetimeObj))

Output:

2021-05-17 15:11:45.456777
<class 'datetime.datetime'>

So in the above example, you can see that we have converted a time string in the format “YYYY-MM-DDTHH::MM::SS.MICROS” to a DateTime object.

Let’s take another example,

Example 2:

from datetime import datetime
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('17/May/2021 14:12:22', '%d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S')
print(datetimeObj)
print(type(datetimeObj))

Output:

2021-05-17 14:12:22
<class 'datetime.datetime'>

So this is the other way to show timestamp here we have converted a time string in the format “DD/MM/YYYY HH::MM::SS” to a datetime object.

Example 3:

If we want to show the only date in this format “DD MMM YYYY”. We do like this,

from datetime import datetime
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('17 May 2021', '%d %b %Y')
# Get the date object from datetime object
dateObj = datetimeObj.date()
print(dateObj)
print(type(dateObj))

Output:

2021-05-17
<class 'datetime.date'>

Example 4:

So if we want to show only time “‘HH:MM:SS AP‘” in this format. We will do like that,

from datetime import datetime
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime('08:12:22 PM', '%I:%M:%S %p') 
# Get the time object from datetime object 
timeObj = datetimeObj.time()
print(timeObj) 
print(type(timeObj))

Output:

20:12:22
<class 'datetime.time'>

Example 5:

If we want to show our timestamp in text format. We will execute like that,

from datetime import datetime
textStr = "On January the 17th of 2021 meet me at 8 PM"
datetimeObj = datetime.strptime(textStr, "On %B the %dth of %Y meet me at %I %p")
print(datetimeObj)

Output:

2021-01-17 20:00:00

Conclusion:

So in the above tutorial, you can see that we have shown different methods of how to convert a timestamp string to a datetime object using datetime.strptime(). Thank you!