strftime

For quick syntax & options help with this function, type >>help (“time.strftime”) . This will list all the basic help that you are in need. If you are looking for a much more advanced option with this function, then refer this table.

About this function: This function is used to format the date & time returned from gmtime() or localtime() functions.

Syntax: time.strftime(format, [gmttime() or localtime()])

where ‘format’ is a combination of the directives listed below and it can be a combination of more than one directive passed as a string parameter. Lets see an example & then the list of all possible directives.

time.strftime example:

>>from time import gmtime, strftime
>>> strftime("%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S")
'Wed, 13 Dec 2017 22:59:26'
>>> strftime("%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S",gmtime())
'Wed, 13 Dec 2017 17:29:36'
>>>

Note: Second Parameter is optional. If left blank, time from localtime() will be considered.

Directives & their meaning:

Derivative Description Example
%a Weekday as locale’s abbreviated name. Sun
%A Weekday as locale’s full name. Sunday
%w Weekday as a decimal number, where 0 is Sunday and 6 is Saturday. 1
%d Day of the month as a zero-padded decimal number. 31
%-d Day of the month as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 31
%b Month as locale’s abbreviated name. Jan
%B Month as locale’s full name. January
%m Month as a zero-padded decimal number. 1
%-m Month as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 1
%y Year without century as a zero-padded decimal number. 17
%Y Year with century as a decimal number. 2017
%H Hour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number. 10
%-H Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 10
%I Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number. 10
%-I Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 10
%p Locale’s equivalent of either AM or PM. AM
%M Minute as a zero-padded decimal number. 5
%-M Minute as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 5
%S Second as a zero-padded decimal number. 5
%-S Second as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 5
%f Microsecond as a decimal number, zero-padded on the left. 0
%z UTC offset in the form +HHMM or -HHMM (empty string if the the object is naive).
%Z Time zone name (empty string if the object is naive). CDT
%j Day of the year as a zero-padded decimal number. 365
%-j Day of the year as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 365
%U Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a zero padded decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0. 25
%W Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0. 25
%c Locale’s appropriate date and time representation. Sun Jan 31 10:05:05 2017
%x Locale’s appropriate date representation. 1/31/2017
%X Locale’s appropriate time representation. 10:05:05
%% A literal ‘%’ character. %

Source Reference: This table is referred from the page strftime.org . This page only has one page with description about this function alone. The author has created this page since a quick reference.

From Python IDE

This is also a quick ref image for the command syntax & its parameters.

Python strftime C Programming
Python strftime C Programming

C or Python strftime

Python function strftime() call the same function from the c Library. It is just that it has a slightly different syntax. Other than that, the directives used as parameter are all the same.

size_t strftime(char *str, size_t maxsize, const char *format, const struct tm *timeptr)

Explanation for the Parameters:

  • *str – Pointer to the output string
  • maxsize – Size of the above output string
  • format – same as Python strftime directive
  • *timeptr – Pointer to input calendar time.

For the struct tm, the structure can be seen in time.h header file.

Sample code with strftime C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

void main () {
   time_t systime;
   struct tm *calendartime;
   char formattedtime[60];

   time( &systime );
   calendartime = localtime( &systime );
   strftime(formattedtime,60,"%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S", calendartime);

   printf("Formatted date & time : |%s|\n", formattedtime );
}

Reference Links:

  1. Python Software Foundation
  2. strftime.org
  3. C tutorial point

Some of the codes are copied, tested & modified a bit from the above links & posted here as a collection for a quick reference.

Leave a Reply