Python datetime Module: Key Functions
The datetime library in Python provides the following features:
- Create date and time objects: You can use the datetime class to create date and time objects, specifying parameters like year, month, day, hour, minute, and second.
- Retrieve the current date and time: Using the now() method from the datetime class allows you to obtain the current date and time.
- To obtain the different parts of the date and time, you can use the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second attributes of the datetime class to respectively get the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second of the date and time.
- Compare dates and times: You can use comparison operators from the datetime class (such as ==, !=, <, >, <=, >=) to compare dates and times.
- Calculate the difference between dates and times: You can use the timedelta object of the datetime class to calculate the difference between two dates and times, and obtain the difference in days, seconds, etc.
- Format date and time: You can use the strftime() method of the datetime class to format date and time objects into a specified string.
- Parse a string into a date and time: You can use the strptime() method of the datetime class to parse a string into a date and time object.
- Time Zone Conversion: The datetime class’s astimezone() method can be used to convert a date and time object to a specified time zone.
- Arithmetic operations on dates and times: You can use the addition and subtraction operators of the datetime class to perform addition and subtraction operations on dates and times.
- To determine the day of the week, you can use the weekday() method from the datetime class, where Monday is represented as 0 and Sunday as 6.
In conclusion, the datetime library offers a wide range of functionality for handling dates and times, including operations such as creating, retrieving, comparing, calculating, and formatting dates and times.