Print Current Date and Time Using 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 −

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
Updated on: 2020-03-05T10:31:00+05:30

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