Comparing two date strings in Python

Question

Let's say I have a string: "10/12/13" and "10/15/13", how can I convert them into date objects so that I can compare the dates? For example to see which date is before or after.

Answer 1

Use datetime.datetime.strptime:

>>> from datetime import datetime as dt
>>> a = dt.strptime("10/12/13", "%m/%d/%y")
>>> b = dt.strptime("10/15/13", "%m/%d/%y")
>>> a > b
False
>>> a < b
True
>>>