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