What is the difference between strptime and strftime in Python?

Both strptime and strftime are functions in Python used for handling dates and times, but they have different functionalities and usage.

The purpose of the strptime function is to convert a date string into a date object, essentially parsing a string into a date object. It takes two parameters: the first one being the date string to parse and the second one being the format of the date string. For example, strptime(“2022-01-01”, “%Y-%m-%d”) will convert the string “2022-01-01” into a date object.

The purpose of the strftime function is to format a date object into a specified date string. It takes two parameters, the first being the date object to format and the second being the date formatting string. For example, strftime(datetime.datetime.now(), “%Y-%m-%d”) will format the current date and time into a “year-month-day” format string.

In general, strptime is used to convert a string to a date object, while strftime is used to format a date object as a string.