Python - strftime() Method

The strftime method is defined under datetime, date and time classes of datetime module. It is used to format datetime, date or time objects in more readable format.

To work with strftime() method, the datetime module or classes like datetime, date or time from datetime module must be imported in the current script. In the example below, the module is datetime imported. See the example below for syntax.

import datetime as dt
x = dt.datetime(2019, 10, 5, 10, 15, 20)
print("Formatting a datetime object:")
print(x.strftime("%d/%m/%Y"))
print(x.strftime("%d %B,%Y"))
print(x.strftime("%d %B,%Y  %H:%M:%S"))

y = dt.date(2019, 10, 5)
print("\nFormatting a date object:")
print(y.strftime("%d/%m/%Y"))
print(y.strftime("%d %B,%Y"))

z = dt.time(10, 15, 20)
print("\nFormatting a time object:")
print(z.strftime("%H:%M:%S"))
print(z.strftime("%H hours %M minutes %S seconds"))

The output of the above code will be:

Formatting a datetime object:
05/10/2019
05 October,2019
05 October,2019  10:15:20

Formatting a date object:
05/10/2019
05 October,2019

Formatting a time object:
10:15:20
10 hours 15 minutes 20 seconds

The format code list

The table below shows all the format codes which can be used with strftime() method.