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Date and Time

Python is very useful in case of Date and Time. We can easily retrieve current date and time using Python.

Retrieve Time

To retrieve current time a predefined function localtime() is used. localtime() receives a parameter time.time() . Here,

time is a module,

time() is a function that returns the current system time in number of ticks since 12:00 am , January 1,1970. It is known as epoch.

Tick is simply a floating point number in seconds since epoch.

eg:

import time;
localtime = time.localtime(time.time())
print "Current Time is :", localtime

Output:

>>>
Current Time is :time.struct_time(tm_year=2014, tm_mon=6, tm_mday=18, tm_hour=12, 
tm_min=35, tm_sec=44, tm_wday=2, tm_yday=169, tm_isdst=0)
>>>

Explanation:

The time returned is a time structure which includes 9 attributes. These are summoned in the table given below.

AttributeDescription
tm_yearReturns the current year
tm_monReturns the current month
tm_mdayReturns the current month day
tm_hourReturns the current hour.
tm_minReturns the current minute
tm_secReturns current seconds
tm_wdayReturns the week day
tm_ydayReturns the year day.
tm_isdstIt returns -1,0 or 1.

Formatted Time

Python also support formatted time. Proceed as follows:

  1. Pass the time structure in a predefined function asctime(). It is a function defined in time module.
  2. It returns a formatted time which includes Day ,month, date, time and year.
  3. Print the formatted time.

eg:

import time;

localtime = time.asctime( time.localtime(time.time()) )
print "Formatted time :", localtime

Output:

>>>
Formatted time : Sun Jun 22 18:54:20 2014
>>>

time module:

There are many built in functions defined in time module which are used to work with time.

MethodsDescription
time()Returns floating point value in seconds since epoch i.e.,12:00am, January 1, 1970
asctime(time)It takes the tuple returned by localtime() as parameter. It returns a 24 character string.
sleep(time)The execution will be stopped for the given interval of time.
strptime(String,format)It returns an tuple with 9 time attributes. It receives an String of date and a format.
gtime()/gtime(sec)It returns struct_time which contains 9 time attributes. In case seconds are not specified it takes current second from epoch.
mktime()Returns second in floating point since epoch.
strftime(format)/strftime(format,time)Returns time in particular format. If time is not given, current time in seconds is fetched.

time()

eg:

import time
printtime.time()

Output:

>>>
1403700740.39
>>>

asctime(time)

import time
t = time.localtime()
printtime.asctime(t)

Output:

>>>
Wed Jun 25 18:30:25 2014
>>>

sleep(time)

Eg:

import time

localtime = time.asctime( time.localtime(time.time()) )
printlocaltime
time.sleep( 10 )
localtime = time.asctime( time.localtime(time.time()) )
printlocaltime

Output:

>>>
Wed Jun 25 18:15:30 2014
Wed Jun 25 18:15:40 2014
>>>

strptime(String str,format f)

Eg:

import time

timerequired = time.strptime("26 Jun 14", "%d %b %y")
printtimerequired

Output:

>>>
time.struct_time(tm_year=2014, tm_mon=6, tm_mday=26, tm_hour=0, tm_min=0, 
tm_sec=0, tm_wday=3, tm_yday=177, tm_isdst=-1)
>>>

Explanation:

The strptime() takes a String and format as argument. The format refers to String passed as an argument. "%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y" are the default directives. There are many other directives which can be used. In the given example we have used three directives: %d%b%y which specifies day of the month, month in abbreviated form and year without century respectively. Some of them are given as:

%aweekday name.
%bmonth name
%cdate and time
%eday of a month
%mmonth in digit.
%nnew line character.
%Ssecond
%ttab character

etc...

gtime()

Eg:

import time
printtime.gmtime()

Output:

>>>
time.struct_time(tm_year=2014, tm_mon=6, tm_mday=28, tm_hour=9, tm_min=38, tm_sec=0,
 tm_wday=5, tm_yday=179, tm_isdst=0)
>>>

mktime()

Eg:

import time
t = (2014, 2, 17, 17, 3, 38, 1, 48, 0)
second = time.mktime( t )
print second

Output:

>>>
1392636818.0
>>>

strftime()

Eg:

import time
t = (2014, 6, 26, 17, 3, 38, 1, 48, 0)
t = time.mktime(t)
printtime.strftime("%b %d %Y %H:%M:%S", time.gmtime(t))

Output:

>>>
Jun 26 2014 11:33:38
>>>

Calendar

Python provides calendar module to display Calendar.

Eg:

import calendar
print "Current month is:"
cal = calendar.month(2014, 6)
printcal

Output:

>>>
Current month is:
 June 2014
Mo TuWe ThFr Sa Su
1
 2  3  4  5  6  7  8
 9 10 11 12 1314 15
16 1718 19 2021 22
2324 25 26 27 28 29
30
>>>

Calendar module:

Python provides calendar module which provides many functions and methods to work on calendar. A list of methods and function used is given below:

MethodsDescription
prcal(year)Prints the whole calendar of the year.
firstweekday()Returns the first week day. It is by default 0 which specifies Monday
isleap(year)Returns a Boolean value i.e., true or false. True in case given year is leap else false.
monthcalendar(year,month)Returns the given month with each week as one list.
leapdays(year1,year2)Return number of leap days from year1 to year2
prmonth(year,month)Print the given month of the given year

prcal(year)

Eg:

import calendar
calendar.prcal(2014)

Output:

>>> ================================ RESTART ================================
>>>
calendar calendar

firstweekday()

Eg:

import calendar
printcalendar.firstweekday()

Output:

>>>
0
>>>

isleap(year)

Eg:

import calendar
printcalendar.isleap(2000)

Output:

>>>
True
>>>

monthcalendar(year,month)

Eg:

import calendar
printcalendar.monthcalendar(2014,6)

Output:

>>>
[[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15], 
[16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22], 
[23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29], [30, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]
>>>

prmonth(year,month)

Eg:

import calendar
printcalendar.prmonth(2014,6)

Output:

>>>
     June 2014
Mo Tu We ThFrSa Su
                   1
2  3  4  5  6  7  8
 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30
None
>>>
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