python - Convert String with month name to datetime

Question

I'm using pickadate.js which returns the date in this format:

8 March, 2017

I would like to convert this to the datetime format of:

yyyy-mm-dd

What would be the best way to do this in Python?

Answer 1

In Python, this is an easy exercise in using the datetime format strings:

from datetime import datetime

s = "8 March, 2017"
d = datetime.strptime(s, '%d %B, %Y')
print(d.strftime('%Y-%m-%d'))

See this table for a full description of all the format qualifiers.

Here I use the datetime.strptime method to convert your datepicker.js string to a Python datetime object. And I use the .strftime method to print that object out as a string using the format you desire. At first those format strings are going to be hard to remember, but you can always look them up. And they well organized, in the end.

I do wonder, though: might it be better to stay in JavaScript than switch over to Python for this last step? Of course, if you are using Python elsewhere in your process, this is an easy solution.