Python: Convert string into date format

Question

I know this has been asked a few times, but my scenario is a little different... The objective I need to accomplish is to convert a string of digits '20150425' (which happens to be a date), into a date format such as, '2015-04-25'. I need this because I am trying to compare date objects in my code, but have one variable type represented as a string.

Example below:
    date = '20150425' ## want to convert this string to date type format
    # conversion here
    conv_date = '2015-04-25' ## format i want it converted into

Hope this is clear. Should not be difficult, just do not know how to do it.

Check this: https://docs.python.org/3/library/time.html#time.strptime — tommy.carstensen, Apr 26 '15 at 19:42
Do you actually want to have `date` changed to Date object ? Or you just want string in date format ? — ThePavolC, Apr 26 '15 at 19:43
@ThePavolC I was about to ask this, because depending on the answer to this question, depends on the code — the_constant, Apr 26 '15 at 19:49
Yes I do want it into a date object. I will be comparing it to another date object. I will edit that above — d_rooney, Apr 26 '15 at 19:49

user308827 · Answer 1 · 2015-04-26T19:56:37.137

1

This works

from datetime import datetime
date = '20150425'
date_object = datetime.strptime(date, '%Y%m%d')

date_object
>>> datetime.datetime(2015,4,25,0,0)

edited Apr 26 '15 at 19:56

answered Apr 26 '15 at 19:45

user308827

21,227
87
254
417

Martin Konecny · Answer 2 · 2015-04-26T19:49:42.510

0

Assuming the date strings will always be 8 characters:

date = '20150425'
fdate = "{}-{}-{}".format(date[0:4], date[4:6], date[6:]) # 2015-04-25

Alternatively, you can go the "heavier" route and use the actual datetime class:

from datetime import datetime
date = '20150425'
dt = datetime.strptime(date, "%Y%m%d")
dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") # 2015-04-25

edited Apr 26 '15 at 19:49

answered Apr 26 '15 at 19:44

Martin Konecny

57,827
19
139
159

Python: Convert string into date format

2 Answers2