How to convert string to datetime object in python for years 2070 and above?

Question

While I was trying to convert String into datetime , I encountered the following:

S='30-01-50'
datetime.datetime.str 
>>datetime.date(2050, 1, 30)

However

S='30-01-70'
datetime.datetime.strptime(S,"%d-%m-%y").date()
>>datetime.date(1970, 1, 30)

Why not 2070 ?. How does one perform arithmetic on such datetime values?

Isn't the problem here that your string isn't unambiguous? Python supports years up to 9999, but 1970 is *what you should get* for only 70. Where is the input coming from, and why can't it include the full year? — jonrsharpe, May 28 '16 at 10:14
I tried S='30-01-1970' , I threw the error : Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in File "/usr/lib/python2.7/_strptime.py", line 328, in _strptime data_string[found.end():]) ValueError: unconverted data remains: 70 — Ashish Pahwa, May 28 '16 at 10:16
Ooh! Din't know that , its working now . Thanks! .But technically how are they different from each other? — Ashish Pahwa, May 28 '16 at 10:19

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

0

For a quick reference, see this answer.

Quick answer: do not use two-digit years, use four-digit years and the %Y specifier.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

answered May 28 '16 at 16:57

Ethan Furman

1 Answers1