Convert string to python date type object with timezone offset using strptime

Question

What is the correct format to convert this string Tue Jan 10 2017 13:00:13 GMT 0800 (Taipei Standard Time) to a python date type object using strptime?

I tried the answer from this question and it is not working for me:

date1 = datetime.strptime(strDate1, '%b %d %Y %I:%M%p')

ValueError: time data 'Tue Jan 10 2017 13:00:13 GMT 0800 (Taipei Standard Time)' does not match format '%b %d %Y %I:%M%p'

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 10 '17 at 05:45

2

You can format the date without timezone and add it later,

 import pytz

 date1=datetime.strptime('Tue Jan 10 2017 13:00:13', '%a %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S')
 tz=pytz.timezone('Asia/Taipei')
 tz.localize(date1)

answered Jan 10 '17 at 05:45

franklinsijo

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im trying to remove the timezone since the string is a javascript `new Date()` object – Shift 'n Tab Jan 10 '17 at 05:47
I am not sure I got you correctly, do you want something like this `datetime.strptime(strDate1[:24], format)`? – franklinsijo Jan 10 '17 at 05:52
slicing the string wont go bad? is suppose the length of that string may change? – Shift 'n Tab Jan 10 '17 at 05:58
i'll try this one – Shift 'n Tab Jan 10 '17 at 06:02
If you want to try split instead of slicing, you can give a try on this `' '.join(strDate1.split()[:5])` – franklinsijo Jan 10 '17 at 06:05

Stephen Rauch · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-10T06:40:56.083

Nominally you would want to be able to use the %z (lowercase z) to convert the TZ offset, however support for this is sketchy. So you can DIY it:

import datetime as dt
import re
PARSE_TIMESTAMP = re.compile('(.*) ([+-]?\d+) \(.*\)$')


def my_datetime_parse(timestamp):
    ''' return a naive datetime relative to UTC '''

    # find the standard time stamp, and the TZ offset and remove extra end
    matches = PARSE_TIMESTAMP.match(timestamp).groups()

    # convert the timestamp element
    timestamp = dt.datetime.strptime(matches[0], '%a %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S %Z')

    # calculate the timezone offset
    tz_offset = matches[1]
    sign = '+'
    if tz_offset[0] in '-+':
        sign = tz_offset[0]
        tz_offset = tz_offset[1:]
    tz_offset += '0' * (4 - len(tz_offset))
    minutes = int(tz_offset[0:2]) * 60 + int(tz_offset[2:])
    if sign == '-':
        minutes = -minutes

    # add the timezone offset to our time
    timestamp += dt.timedelta(minutes=minutes)
    return timestamp

date_string = 'Tue Jan 10 2017 13:00:13 GMT +0800 (Taipei Standard Time)'
print(my_datetime_parse(date_string))

This code produces:

2017-01-10 21:00:13

The code removes the (Taipei Standard Time) since it is redundant with the +0800.

This code assumes that there is a parenthesized field with `(extranaous stuff)` at the end that needs to be removed. It also assumes that there is a timezone offset that needs to be parsed. This could be done with the %z format if it were better supported. — Stephen Rauch, Jan 10 '17 at 06:04

Convert string to python date type object with timezone offset using strptime

2 Answers2