Convert HH:MM UTC+2 to HH:MM [not UTC]

Question

I have a dictionary that contains times, set up like

{ '2018-06-22': { 24: { 24: { 'Team1': 'Nigeria',
                              'Team2': 'Iceland',
                              'Time': '18:00',
                              'Timezone': 'UTC+ ... }}

How can I take the Time and change from whatever zone it's in (UTC+2, UTC, UTC+3, etc) and change to, say, USA Chicago (UTC-5)?

I've tried using the solution here but get 1900-01-01 10:00:00-05:00. The date is fine, I can remove that. I am not sure why the time though seems to be a range? I was expecting 24 hour format output.

from datetime import datetime
from dateutil import tz

def update_timezone(time, old_zone, new_zone):
    """
    Takes an old timezone and converts to the new one
    """
    from_zone = tz.gettz(old_zone)
    to_zone = tz.gettz(new_zone)

    utc = datetime.strptime(time, "%H:%M")

    utc = utc.replace(tzinfo=from_zone)
    central = utc.astimezone(to_zone)
    return central

print(update_timezone("18:00", "UTC+3","UTC-5"))

Output:

1900-01-01 10:00:00-05:00

Desired output:

11:00

`1900-01-01 10:00:00-05:00` is not a range, it means 1900 Jan 1, 10:00, 5 hours offset from UTC. — abarnert, Jun 22 '18 at 21:34
@abarnert - OH! Wow. So it seems to be working correctly then. Whoops! Thanks for pointing that out. (I'll delete this post shortly) — BruceWayne, Jun 22 '18 at 21:36
Also, don't convert the `datetime` to a string and then try to strip stuff off of the result; just keep it around as a `datetime`, and then use `strftime` to format it however you want for printout. Like `dt.strftime('%H:%S')`. Or, if you're using `str.format` or f-strings, you can even just throw the strftime format into the format spec: `print(f'The time is {dt:%H:HS}')`. — abarnert, Jun 22 '18 at 21:41
@abarnert if you want to put both comments in an answer, I'll mark it. Or, should I just delete the question? — BruceWayne, Jun 22 '18 at 22:49
Answered… but I think maybe this is just a dup of the question you already linked to in your question? Let's give it time and see if anyone else votes to close. — abarnert, Jun 22 '18 at 23:07

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 22 '18 at 23:06

The date is fine, I can remove that.

Better than converting to a string and then trying to munge that, just keep it as a datetime object until you need a string, and then use the strftime method to format it however you want. For example:

>>> dt.strftime('%H:%M')
10:00

Or, if you're using f-strings or str.format, you can even put that directly in the format spec for a datetime object:

>>> print(f'The time sponsored by Accurist is {dt:%H:%M}, precisely.')
The time sponsored by Accurist is 10:00, precisely.

I am not sure why the time though seems to be a range?

Actually, it's not. The default str format for displaying datetime objects is based on ISO 8601.¹ For local times that know their time zone's UTC offset at the time in question, it's included as a +02:00 or -05:00 on the end.

I was expecting 24 hour format output.

That's already the default for the str output.

But, more importantly, that's what you always get when you ask strftime for %H. (If you want 12 hour, that's %I.)

1. But not with default settings for all of the options, like T as the time separator. If you want that, you have to call the isoformat method.

Convert HH:MM UTC+2 to HH:MM [not UTC]

1 Answers1