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How to get current date and time in Python?

You can get the current date and time using multiple ways. The easiest way is to use the datetime module. It has a function, now, that gives the current date and time. 

example

import datetime
now = datetime.datetime.now()
print("Current date and time: ")
print(str(now))

Output

This will give the output −

2017-12-29 11:24:48.042720

You can also get the formatted date and time using strftime function. It accepts a format string that you can use to get your desired output. Following are the directives supported by it.

Directive    
Meaning
%a  
 Locale's abbreviated weekday name.
%A
 Locale's full weekday name.
%b  
Locale's abbreviated month name.  
%B
Locale's full month name.          
%c  
  Locale's appropriate date and time representation.        
%d
Day of the month as a decimal number [01,31].
%H
Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number [00,23].  
%I
Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number [01,12].
%j  
Day of the year as a decimal number [001,366].        
%m
Month as a decimal number [01,12].  
%M
Minute as a decimal number [00,59].    
%p
 Locale's equivalent of either AM or PM.          
%S
Second as a decimal number [00,61].
%U
Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53]. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0.
%w  
Weekday as a decimal number [0(Sunday),6].    
%W  
Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53]. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0.
%x
Locale's appropriate date representation.  
%X  
Locale's appropriate time representation.
%y
Year without century as a decimal number [00,99].
%Y
Year with century as a decimal number.    
%Z
  Time zone name (no characters if no time zone exists).    
%%
A literal "%" character.

 Example

You can use these directives in the strftime function as follows &mminus;

import datetime
now = datetime.datetime.now()
print("Current date and time: ")
print(now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'))
print(now.strftime('%H:%M:%S on %A, %B the %dth, %Y'))

Output

This will give the output −

2017-12-29 12:19:13
12:19:13 on Friday, December the 29th, 2017