Python time

last modified January 29, 2024

Python time tutorial shows how to work with time in Python using the standard time module.

Python time module

The time module is a standard Python module that contains time access and conversion functions. Note that this module has limitations; for instance, the functions may not handle dates and times before the epoch or far in the future.

Additional time-related functionality can be found in standard datetime and calendar modules, or in third-party arrow module.

Python time structure

Several functions including time.gmtime, time.localtime time.asctime work with the time.struct_time object.

time.struct_time(tm_year=2021, tm_mon=6, tm_mday=27, tm_hour=14, tm_min=12,
 tm_sec=20, tm_wday=6, tm_yday=178, tm_isdst=1)

This is an example of a time structure.

Index	Attribute	Values
0	tm_year	0000, ...., 2021, ..., 9999
1	tm_mon	1, 2, ..., 12
2	tm_mday	1, 2, ..., 31
3	tm_hour	0, 1, ..., 23
4	tm_min	0, 1, ..., 59
5	tm_sec	0, 1, ..., 61
6	tm_wday	0, 1, ..., 6; Monday is 0
7	tm_yday	1, 2, ..., 366
8	tm_isdst	0, 1 or -1

The values of the time.struct_time object are accessible using both indices and attributes. We can use the time.asctime function converts the time.struct_time into a standard human readable string form.

Python time epoch

An epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The Unix epoch is the time 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970 (or 1970年01月01日T00:00:00Z ISO 8601).

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
e = time.gmtime(0)
print(e)
print(e.tm_year, e.tm_mon, e.tm_mday)

The example prints the platform's epoch

e = time.gmtime(0)

To get the epoch, we pass 0 to the time.gmtime function.

$ ./epoch.py
time.struct_time(tm_year=1970, tm_mon=1, tm_mday=1, tm_hour=0, tm_min=0,
 tm_sec=0, tm_wday=3, tm_yday=1, tm_isdst=0)
1970 1 1

Python time.time

The time.time function returns the time in seconds since the epoch as a floating point number.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
t = time.time()
print(t)

The example returns the time in seconds since epoch.

$ date +%s
1624795343
$ ./time_fun.py
1624795347.1246026

Python time.localtime

The time.localtime function converts a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a time structure in local time.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
secs = time.time()
loc_time = time.localtime(secs)
print(f'local time: {loc_time}')
print(loc_time.tm_year)
print(loc_time.tm_mon)
print(loc_time.tm_mday)
print('-------------------------')
print(loc_time[0])
print(loc_time[1])
print(loc_time[2])

We get the elapsed seconds with the time.time function and pass it to the time.localtime function. We get the

$ ./loc_time.py 
local time: time.struct_time(tm_year=2021, tm_mon=6, tm_mday=27, tm_hour=14, 
 tm_min=20, tm_sec=15, tm_wday=6, tm_yday=178, tm_isdst=1)
2021
6
27
-------------------------
2021
6
27

Python time.ctime

The time.ctime function converts a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a specific string format, representing local time.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
secs = time.time()
loc_time = time.ctime(secs)
print(f'local time: {loc_time}')

The example uses the time.ctime function to express the time expressed in seconds since epoch into a human readable time format.

$ ./loc_time2.py 
local time: Sun Jun 27 14:46:18 2021

Python time.gmtime

The time.gmtime converts a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a time structure in UTC.

There is a pragmatic need for one global time. One global time helps to avoid confusion about time zones and daylight saving time. The UTC (Universal Coordinated time) was chosen to be the primary time standard. UTC is used in aviation, weather forecasts, flight plans, air traffic control clearances, and maps. Unlike local time, UTC does not change with a change of seasons.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
utc = time.gmtime()
print(utc)
print('--------------------')
print(utc.tm_year)
print(utc.tm_mon)
print(utc.tm_mday)
print(utc.tm_hour)

The example prints the Universal time.

$ ./utc_time.py 
time.struct_time(tm_year=2021, tm_mon=6, tm_mday=27, tm_hour=12, tm_min=55, 
 tm_sec=31, tm_wday=6, tm_yday=178, tm_isdst=0)
--------------------
2021
6
27
12

Python time.asctime

The time.asctime function converts the time.struct_time into a standard human readable string form.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
loc = time.localtime()
utc = time.gmtime()
print(time.asctime(loc))
print(time.asctime(utc))

With the help of the time.asctime, we print the local time and the UTC time.

$ ./asc_time.py 
Sun Jun 27 15:06:15 2021
Sun Jun 27 13:06:15 2021

Python time.strptime

The time.strptime function parses a string representing a time according to the specified format. The returned value is a time structure.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
v1 = '2021-06-25'
v2 = '25/11/2020'
d1 = time.strptime(v1, '%Y-%m-%d')
print(time.asctime(d1))
d2 = time.strptime(v2, '%d/%m/%Y')
print(time.asctime(d2))

The example dates expressed in two different formats.

$ ./parse_time.py 
Fri Jun 25 00:00:00 2021
Wed Nov 25 00:00:00 2020

Python time.strftime

The time.strftime function converts a time structure representing a time to a string as specified by the format argument.

#!/usr/bin/python
import time
loc = time.localtime()
print(time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d', loc))
print(time.strftime('%c', loc))
print(time.strftime('%A', loc))
print(time.strftime('%B', loc))
print(time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", loc))

The example uses the time.localtime to get a local time expressed in a time structure. Then it formats the returned value into different time formats.

$ ./format_time.py 
2021年06月27日
Sun Jun 27 15:17:37 2021
Sunday
June
15:17:37

Source

Python time — Time access and conversions

In this article we have worked with the time module in Python.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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