Python datetime module overview and application scenarios

1. Python datetime module overview

PythondatetimeModules are the core modules used in the standard library to handle dates and times, providing the following core functions:

• Date/time objectification: Abstract date, time, date time, etc. into objects, supporting calculation and comparison.
• Format and parse: Supports two-way conversion between date and time and string.
• Time zone processing: Supports local time and time calculation with time zone (need to be combinedpytzetc. third-party library enhancement).
• Time operation:passtimedeltaImplement time difference calculation and support the addition and subtraction of date and time.

2. Analysis of datetime module core class

1. dateCategory: Processing date (year, month, day)

• use: Process pure dates without time.
• Key Methods：

from datetime import date
today = ()          # Get the current datecustom_date = date(2023, 10, 1)  # Create a specified dateprint(, , )  # Output：2023 10 1

2. timeClass: Processing time (hour, minute, second, microsecond)

• use: Process pure time without dates.
• Example：

from datetime import time
t = time(14, 30, 15)  # 14:30:15
print(, )  # Output：14 30

3. datetimeClass: Combination of date and time

• Core functions: Process date and time at the same time, and support time zone (need to be configured).
• Common operations：

from datetime import datetime
now = ()  # Current local timeutc_now = ()  # Current UTC timedt = datetime(2023, 10, 1, 9, 30)  # 2023-10-01 09:30:00
# timestamp conversiontimestamp = ()  # Convert to Unix timestampdt_from_ts = (1633068600)

4. timedeltaClass: Time interval calculation

• use: represents the difference between two time points.
• Example：

from datetime import datetime, timedelta
now = ()
future = now + timedelta(days=7, hours=3)  #7 days and 3 hours laterdelta = future - now  # Calculate the time differenceprint()  # Output：7

5. tzinfoand time zone processing

• Basic time zone: Built-in PythontimezoneClass (requires Python 3.2+).
• Third-party library: RecommendedpytzHandle complex time zones.
• Example：

from datetime import datetime, timezone
import pytz
# Local time to UTClocal_dt = datetime(2023, 10, 1, 10, 0)
utc_dt = local_dt.astimezone()
# Use pytz to handle time zonestz_shanghai = ('Asia/Shanghai')
dt_with_tz = tz_shanghai.localize(datetime(2023, 10, 1, 10, 0))

3. Date and time formatting and analysis

1. strftime:Date → String

dt = datetime(2023, 10, 1, 14, 30)
formatted = ("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")  # Output：2023-10-01 14:30:00

2. strptime: string → date

date_str = "2023-10-01"
dt = (date_str, "%Y-%m-%d")  # Resolved asdatetimeObject

3. Common format symbols

4. Typical application scenarios

Countdown calculation：

end_date = datetime(2023, 12, 31)
days_left = (end_date - ()).days

Log timestamp：

log_time = ().strftime("[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]")

User input processing：

user_input = "2023-10-01"
try:
    dt = (user_input, "%Y-%m-%d")
except ValueError:
    print("Date format error!")

5. Things to note

• Time zone sensitivity:defaultdatetimeThe object is "naive" (no time zone), and it needs to be explicitly specified when handling cross-time zones.
• Performance optimization: It is recommended to use a timestamp (timestamp())storage.
• Leap year processing：dateClasses automatically handle leap years, such asdate(2024, 2, 29)efficient.

If you need more advanced time processing functions (such as natural language parsing), you can refer to the third-party library.dateutilorarrow。

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