Converting 2012-12-19 string to datetime object in Python

Question

I have the following working code:

import datetime

d = "2012-12-19"                
f = map(int,  d.split('-') )
day = datetime.date( f[0], f[1], f[2] )

print day

but when I try to write it this way:

day = datetime.date( f )

I get an exception: TypeError: an integer is required

Why is that and how could I write this better?

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-19 13:36:08Z

5

Best is to use the datetime.strptime() method:

datetime.datetime.strptime(d, '%Y-%m-%d').date()

Demo:

>>> import datetime
>>> d = "2012-12-19"                
>>> datetime.datetime.strptime(d, '%Y-%m-%d').date()
datetime.date(2012, 12, 19)

You are not passing f[0], etc. in though, your method would have worked had you done that or:

datetime.date(*f)

answered Dec 19, 2012 at 13:36

Martijn Pieters

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Comments

Frédéric Hamidi · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-19 13:35:51Z

1

Pack the argument list instead of passing it to date() as is:

day = datetime.date(*f)

answered Dec 19, 2012 at 13:35

Frédéric Hamidi

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ddinchev · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-19 13:35:59Z

1

Well, at least this is more readable:

day = datetime.date(year=f[0], month=f[1], day=f[2])

answered Dec 19, 2012 at 13:35

ddinchev

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