How to convert object to date in pandas

Question

I have pandas column like following

   January 2014
   February 2014

I want to convert it to following format 201401 201402 I am doing following

   df.date = pd.to_datetime(df.date,format= '%Y%B')

But,it gives me an error.

Post raw data, code to read and create your df, what you tried and all errors in your question so this doesn't become a guessing game — EdChum
– EdChum, Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 10:55

EdChum · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-09 10:54:02Z

15

You shouldn't need the format string, it just works:

In [207]:
pd.to_datetime('January 2014')

Out[207]:
Timestamp('2014-01-01 00:00:00')

besides your format string is incorrect, it should be '%B %Y':

In [209]:
pd.to_datetime('January 2014', format='%B %Y')

Out[209]:
Timestamp('2014-01-01 00:00:00')

answered Mar 9, 2017 at 10:54

EdChum

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