Convert from datetime to a date string in python

Question

I need some help with my code. I have stored the datetime object into the list after I have pulled the string from the database. Now I would like to convert it to a string.

Example:

datetime.datetime(2018, 3, 12, 0, 0)

To this:

12/03/2018 12:00AM

If I want to convert from datetime object to a string to make it to show 12/03/2018 12:00AM, I would have to use something like this:

program_stop_date = '20180312000000'
stop_time = time.strptime(program_stop_date, '%Y%m%d%H%M%S')
stop_time = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(time.mktime(stop_time))
program_stop_hours = str(stop_time.hour)
program_stop_minutes = str(stop_time.minute)
program_stop_days = int(stop_time.day)
program_stop_months = int(stop_time.month)
program_stop_year = str(stop_time.year)
program_stop_hours = int(program_stop_hours)

if program_stop_minutes == "0":
   program_stop_minutes = "00"
elif program_stop_minutes == "5":
   program_stop_minutes = "05"

if program_stop_hours >= 0 and program_stop_hours <= 9:
   program_stop_hours = str(program_stop_hours)
   program_stop_hours = str("0" + program_stop_hours)

if program_stop_days >= 0 and program_stop_days <= 9:
   program_stop_days = str(program_stop_days)
   program_stop_days = str("0" + program_stop_days)

if program_stop_months >= 0 and program_stop_months <= 9:
   program_stop_months = str(program_stop_months)
   program_stop_months = str("0" + program_stop_months)
program_stop_hours = int(program_stop_hours)
program_stop_days = str(program_stop_days)
program_stop_months = str(program_stop_months)


if program_stop_hours >= 00 and program_stop_hours <= 12:
    program_AM_PM = 'AM'
else:
    program_AM_PM = 'PM'

 program_stop_hours = str(program_stop_hours)
 program_stop_times = str(program_stop_hours + ':' + program_stop_minutes + program_AM_PM)
 program_end_time = str(program_stop_days + "/" + program_stop_months + "/" + program_stop_year + " " + program_stop_times)

Here is what I have stored the datetime in the self.program_end_date list after I have pulled the data from the database:

cur.execute('SELECT start_date, stop_date, title, program_id FROM programs WHERE program_id=? LIMIT 10', [program_id])
programs = cur.fetchall()

for ind, row in enumerate(programs):
    program_stop_date = str(row[1])
    stop_time = time.strptime(program_stop_date, '%Y%m%d%H%M%S')
    program_stop_times = time.strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M%p', stop_time)
    program_stop_time = time.strptime(program_stop_times, '%d/%m/%Y %H:%M%p')
    self.program_end_time = list()
    self.program_end_time.append(program_stop_time)

The reason I want to convert from datetime object to a string, is because I want to convert it from a string to time.struct_time object like this:

program_stop_times = '12/03/2018 12:00AM'
program_stop_time = time.strptime(program_stop_times, '%d/%m/%Y %I:%M%p')

I feel it is not necessary, but I have got no idea how I can convert from datetime to a time.struct_time object. This is the only way I can think of to use the code like I show on the top to convert from datetime to a string and then to time.struct_time.

Can you please show me an example how I can convert from datetime object to a string to make it to show 12/03/2018 12:00AM or use a better way than I could use?

Answer 1

Focusing on your specific example, this is how you can convert a string to a time.struct_time object in a 3-step process:

1. Convert str to datetime, x in example below.
2. Convert datetime to date, y.
3. Convert date to time.struct_time, z.

Below, for convenience, I use dateutil.parser.parse for step 1.

from dateutil import parser
from datetime import datetime

program_stop_times = '12/03/2018 12:00AM'

x = parser.parse(program_stop_times)
y = x.date()
z = y.timetuple()

# time.struct_time(tm_year=2018, tm_mon=12, tm_mday=3, tm_hour=0, tm_min=0,
#                  tm_sec=0, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=337, tm_isdst=-1)

You can, and perhaps should, link these in a single function:

def str_timestruct(x):
    return parser.parse(x).date().timetuple()