CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythontimestrftime
oakbramble
oakbramble

Reputation: 1767

How to use %f with strftime() in Python to get microseconds?

I'm trying to use strftime() to microsecond precision, which seems possible using %f (as stated here). However when I try the following code:

import time
import strftime from time

print strftime("%H:%M:%S.%f")

...I get the hour, the minutes and the seconds, but %f prints as %f, with no sign of the microseconds. I'm running Python 2.6.5 on Ubuntu, so it should be fine and %f should be supported (it's supported for 2.6 and above, as far as I know.)

Upvotes: 162

Views: 286874

Answers (8)

adamnfish
adamnfish

Reputation: 11255

You can use datetime's strftime() function to get this. The problem is that time's strftime() accepts a timetuple that does not carry microsecond information.

from datetime import datetime
datetime.now().strftime("%H:%M:%S.%f")

Should do the trick!

Upvotes: 235

user2189872
user2189872

Reputation: 77

When the "%f" for microseconds isn't working, the following can be used:

import datetime

def getTimeStamp():
    dt = datetime.datetime.now()
    return dt.strftime("%Y%j%H%M%S") + str(dt.microsecond)

Upvotes: 5

baltasvejas
baltasvejas

Reputation: 1778

With Python's time module you can't get microseconds with %f.

For those who still want to go with time module only, here is a workaround:

now = time.time()
mlsec = repr(now).split('.')[1][:3]
print time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.{} %Z".format(mlsec), time.localtime(now))

You should get something like 2017-01-16 16:42:34.625 EET (yes, I use milliseconds as it's fairly enough).

To break the code into details, paste the below code into a Python console:

import time

# Get current timestamp
now = time.time()

# Debug now
now
print now
type(now)

# Debug strf time
struct_now = time.localtime(now)
print struct_now
type(struct_now)

# Print nicely formatted date
print time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z", struct_now)

# Get miliseconds
mlsec = repr(now).split('.')[1][:3]
print mlsec

# Get your required timestamp string
timestamp = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.{} %Z".format(mlsec), struct_now)
print timestamp

For clarification purposes, I also paste my Python 2.7.12 result here:

>>> import time
>>> # get current timestamp
... now = time.time()
>>> # debug now
... now
1484578293.519106
>>> print now
1484578293.52
>>> type(now)
<type 'float'>
>>> # debug strf time
... struct_now = time.localtime(now)
>>> print struct_now
time.struct_time(tm_year=2017, tm_mon=1, tm_mday=16, tm_hour=16, tm_min=51, tm_sec=33, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=16, tm_isdst=0)
>>> type(struct_now)
<type 'time.struct_time'>
>>> # print nicely formatted date
... print time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z", struct_now)
2017-01-16 16:51:33 EET
>>> # get miliseconds
... mlsec = repr(now).split('.')[1][:3]
>>> print mlsec
519
>>> # get your required timestamp string
... timestamp = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.{} %Z".format(mlsec), struct_now)
>>> print timestamp
2017-01-16 16:51:33.519 EET
>>>

Upvotes: 16

mato
mato

Reputation: 643

If you want speed, try this:

def _timestamp(prec=0):
    t = time.time()
    s = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", time.localtime(t))
    if prec > 0:
        s += ("%.9f" % (t % 1,))[1:2+prec]
    return s

Where prec is precision -- how many decimal places you want. Please note that the function does not have issues with leading zeros in fractional part like some other solutions presented here.

Upvotes: 0

Rafal Enden
Rafal Enden

Reputation: 3184

If you want an integer, try this code:

import datetime
print(datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%s%f")[:13])

Output:

1545474382803

Upvotes: 0

salah Laaroussi
salah Laaroussi

Reputation: 165

This should do the work

import datetime
datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%H:%M:%S.%f")

It will print

HH:MM:SS.microseconds like this e.g 14:38:19.425961

Upvotes: 7

Jochen Ritzel
Jochen Ritzel

Reputation: 107696

You are looking at the wrong documentation. The time module has different documentation.

You can use the datetime module strftime like this:

>>> from datetime import datetime
>>>
>>> now = datetime.now()
>>> now.strftime("%H:%M:%S.%f")
'12:19:40.948000'

Upvotes: 41

Pushpak Dagade
Pushpak Dagade

Reputation: 6460

You can also get microsecond precision from the time module using its time() function.
(time.time() returns the time in seconds since epoch. Its fractional part is the time in microseconds, which is what you want.)

>>> from time import time
>>> time()
... 1310554308.287459   # the fractional part is what you want.


# comparision with strftime -
>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> from time import time
>>> datetime.now().strftime("%f"), time()
... ('287389', 1310554310.287459)

Upvotes: 5

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