datetime Overview

The datetime module provides classes for manipulating dates and times, including date, time, datetime, timedelta, and timezone support.

Core Classes

The datetime module provides several core classes for date and time manipulation.

from datetime import date, time, datetime, timedelta

# Current date
today = date.today()
print(f"Today: {today}")

# Create specific date
birthday = date(1990, 5, 15)
print(f"Birthday: {birthday}")

# Current time
now = datetime.now()
print(f"Now: {now}")

Today: 2026-02-12
Birthday: 1990-05-15
Now: 2026-02-12 12:34:56.789123

Parsing and Formatting

Convert between datetime objects and strings.

from datetime import datetime

# Parse string to datetime
date_str = "2024-12-25"
parsed = datetime.strptime(date_str, "%Y-%m-%d")
print(f"Parsed: {parsed}")

# Format datetime to string
formatted = parsed.strftime("%A, %B %d, %Y")
print(f"Formatted: {formatted}")

Parsed: 2024-12-25 00:00:00
Formatted: Wednesday, December 25, 2024