I'm stuck trying to figure how to parse this datetime that is formatted as 12.6.5 (datetime formatted with periods) in pandas

Question

I'm stuck trying to figure how to parse this object containing date that is formatted as 18.26.01 (object formatted with periods) in pandas. I'm using the pd.to_datetime(youtube_US['trending_date']) method but it's returning a parsing error. The error is as follows: ParserError: month must be in 1..12: 17.14.11 How do I parse this date so that it returns a proper datetime object? Do I need to use any kind of loop?

Did you try to pass format string? `pandas.to_datetime()` takes `format` argument — buran, Sep 19 '21 at 10:03

Gurjot Singh Mahi · Answer 1 · 2021-09-19T10:28:14.373

0

The Error tells you to explicitly mention month in the front. You can handle the error by reformatting the column.

import pandas as pd

youtube_US = {'trending_date': ['18.26.01', '18.26.01']}
df = pd.DataFrame(data=youtube_US)

def datetime_split(df):
    split = df.split('.')
    return split[1]+"."+split[2]+"."+split[0]

# Reformat 'trending_date' column
df['trending_date'] = df['trending_date'].apply(datetime_split) 

# Select only date from column
df['trending_date'] = pd.to_datetime(df['trending_date']).dt.date
print(df)

I hope this resolves your error.

or simply use format as per Buran's comment

import pandas as pd
youtube_US = {'trending_date': ['18.26.01', '18.26.01']}
df = pd.DataFrame(data=youtube_US)
df['trending_date']= pd.to_datetime(df['trending_date'], format="%y.%d.%m")
df['trending_date'] = pd.to_datetime(df['trending_date']).dt.date
print(df)

edited Sep 19 '21 at 10:28

answered Sep 19 '21 at 10:15

Gurjot Singh Mahi

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Also, you probably don't want to add `.dt.date` as this leaves you with Python datetime.date objects, which won't allow you to use pandas datetime functionality like the dt accessor ;-) – FObersteiner Sep 19 '21 at 10:54
Yes Busan's method was the quickest and it worked! – Ruthba Yasmin Sep 19 '21 at 10:57
@RuthbaYasmin great if you found the solution. Please do upvote or accept the answer if the code works. It will help other developers. – Gurjot Singh Mahi Sep 19 '21 at 11:05

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 19 '21 at 11:12

There is another field in the notebook that I'm working with which I don't understand.

youtube_US['count_max_view']=youtube_US.groupby(['video_id'])['views'].transform(max)

I don't understand the purpose of .transform(max) and what it's doing and in fact the whole line of code.

here is the info on the dataset:

I'm stuck trying to figure how to parse this datetime that is formatted as 12.6.5 (datetime formatted with periods) in pandas

2 Answers2