python datetime issue while saving in database

Question

In the following code, I am trying to convert 2 types of date formats into a common date format so that I can store it in my database.

import datetime
Date1 = '2012-04-24T12:58:52Z'

Date2 = 'Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:56:21 -0700'

date1 = Date1.replace("T"," ").replace("Z","")
y = datetime.datetime.strptime(date1,"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
date1 = datetime.datetime.strftime(y,"%A, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S %p")

k = Date2.split(" ")
y = " ".join(k[1:len(k)-1])
date2 = datetime.datetime.strptime(y,"%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S")
date2 = datetime.datetime.strftime(date2,"%A, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S %p")

print date1
print date2

It gives me the following output.

Tuesday, Apr 24 2012 12:58:52 PM
Tuesday, Apr 24 2012 12:56:21 PM

But when I try to save it in the Database, it is throwing this error.

Enter a valid date/time in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM[:ss[.uuuuuu]] format

Can any1 please help me solving this issue. Thanks in advance.

have you tried to adapt strftime to match the required format? — moooeeeep
– moooeeeep, Commented May 3, 2012 at 11:11
Hi @moooeeeep, I have tried doing that. But this time, a different error showed up. "time data '2012-05-02 19:44:34' does not match format '%A, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S %p'" — funnyguy
– funnyguy, Commented May 3, 2012 at 11:14

eumiro · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 11:09:33Z

2

Many DBs accept datetime.datetime objects.

import datetime

Date1 = '2012-04-24T12:58:52Z'
dt1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(Date1, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
# dt1: datetime.datetime(2012, 4, 24, 12, 58, 52)

and now try to insert dt1 into DB as an object.

answered May 3, 2012 at 11:09

eumiro

214k36 gold badges307 silver badges264 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

igor · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 11:17:37Z

0

I would store the times as plain integers, in seconds since epoch (UNIX timestamp). This way, you can store it into any database without hassle. The %s format specifier for strftime returns the UNIX timestamp as string—so something along the lines of

int(datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%s'))

should work. You can then convert the timestamp back to a datetime object using datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(…).

answered May 3, 2012 at 11:17

igor

2,10021 silver badges32 bronze badges

2 Comments

moooeeeep Over a year ago

Probably he has a specific database, though he didn't stated. You lose features like postgreSQL current_date and likewise converting all times to seconds since epoch.

igor Over a year ago

True, the use case defines whether this approach is feasible or not.

snies · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 11:19:06Z

0

Use this format for date1 and date2:

date1 = datetime.datetime.strftime(y,"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S")
date2 = datetime.datetime.strftime(date2,"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S")

this will result in:

2012-04-24T12:58:52
2012-04-24T12:56:21

the error message you report clearly states that you need this format.

edited May 3, 2012 at 11:19

answered May 3, 2012 at 11:13

snies

3,5411 gold badge24 silver badges19 bronze badges

2 Comments

funnyguy Over a year ago

Hi @snies, the have this solution earlier but the following error popped up while inserting into db "time data '2012-04-24 12:58:52' does not match format '%A, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S %p'"

snies Over a year ago

i am a bit confused, maybe you edited your question, but i think you had a 'T' delimiting the date and the time in your original error description. Please make sure what your error says and what your format string looks like. Subtle differences do matter. But it's probably best if you just post the db you are using.

Andrew F · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-03 11:33:44Z

0

I'm not exactly sure which object you're trying to store in the DB. As eumiro suggests, many libraries let you store the datetime object directly. But assuming you need to store it as a string, but why can't you just format the datetime object as the database error suggests (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:ss)?

So ... like this:

 import datetime

 Date1 = '2012-04-24T12:58:52Z'
 d1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(Date1,"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
 d1.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") # Store this!

 Date2 = 'Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:56:21 -0700'
 k = Date2.split(" ")
 y = " ".join(k[1:len(k)-1])
 d2 = datetime.datetime.strptime(y,"%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S")
 d2.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") # Store this!

This may be outside the scope of your question, but note that with Date2, you're stripping out the timezone information (-0700). If that's important to you, you should parse and store that somehow. There's a %z option in strptime that parses this, but it doesn't seem to work on all platforms unfortunately.

edited May 3, 2012 at 11:33

answered May 3, 2012 at 11:21

Andrew F

6051 gold badge4 silver badges16 bronze badges

2 Comments

funnyguy Over a year ago

I have done the same thing earlier also. It gave me this error. "time data '2012-04-24 12:58:52' does not match format '%A, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S %p'"

Andrew F Over a year ago

Looks like you're using Django and MySQL. You should be able to just insert the datetime object directly, without converting it to a string, as eumiro suggests. Can you paste the code where you set the datetime attribute and save?

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

python datetime issue while saving in database

4 Answers 4

Comments

2 Comments

2 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

Comments

2 Comments

2 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related