Python Get Current time

Python Get Current time#

Learn to get current time of your locale as well as different time zones in Python.

There are a number of ways you can take to get current time in Python.

Example 1: Current time using datetime object#

# Example 1: Current time using datetime object

from datetime import datetime

now = datetime.now()

current_time = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
print("Current Time =", current_time)

# When you run the program, the output will be something like below:

Current Time = 18:08:06

Note: In the above example, we have imported the datetime class from the datetime module. Then, we used now method to get a datetime object containing current date and time.

Using datetime.strftime() method, we then created a string representing current time.

If you need to create a time object containing current time, you can do something like this.

# from datetime import datetime

now = datetime.now().time() # time object

print("now =", now)
print("type(now) =", type(now))	

# When you run the program, the output will be something like below:

now = 18:08:06.994177
type(now) = <class 'datetime.time'>

Example 2: Current time using time module#

You can also get the current time using time module.

# Example 2: Current time using time module

import time

t = time.localtime()
current_time = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", t)
print(current_time)

# When you run the program, the output will be something like below:

18:08:07

Example 3: Current time of a timezone#

If you need to find current time of a certain timezone, you can use pytZ module.

# Example 3: Current time of a timezone

from datetime import datetime
import pytz

tz_NY = pytz.timezone('America/New_York') 
datetime_NY = datetime.now(tz_NY)
print("NY time:", datetime_NY.strftime("%H:%M:%S"))

tz_London = pytz.timezone('Europe/London')
datetime_London = datetime.now(tz_London)
print("London time:", datetime_London.strftime("%H:%M:%S"))

NY time: 08:38:07
London time: 13:38:07

Example 4: Time Objects to Represent Time#

# Example 4: Time Objects to Represent Time

from datetime import time
# time(hour = 0, minute = 0, second = 0)
a = time()
print("a =", a)
# time(hour, minute and second)
b = time(10, 30, 50)
print("b =", b)
# time(hour, minute and second)
c = time(hour=10, minute=30, second=50)
print("c =", c)
# time(hour, minute, second, microsecond)
d = time(10, 30, 50, 200555)
print("d =", d)

a = 00:00:00
b = 10:30:50
c = 10:30:50
d = 10:30:50.200555

Example 5: Difference Between Two Points in Time Using#

# Example 5: Difference Between Two Points in Time Using

from datetime import date

today = date(year=2019, month=12, day=5)
new_year = date(year=2020, month=1, day=1)
time_left_for_newyear = new_year - today
# Time left for new year:  27 days, 0:00:00
print('Time left for new year: ', time_left_for_newyear)

t1 = datetime(year = 2019, month = 12, day = 5, hour = 0, minute = 59, second = 0)
t2 = datetime(year = 2020, month = 1, day = 1, hour = 0, minute = 0, second = 0)
diff = t2 - t1
print('Time left for new year:', diff) # Time left for new year: 26 days, 23: 01: 00

Time left for new year:  27 days, 0:00:00
Time left for new year: 26 days, 23:01:00

Example 6: Difference Between Two Points in Time Using timedelata#

# Example 6: Difference Between Two Points in Time Using `timedelata`

from datetime import timedelta

t1 = timedelta(weeks=12, days=10, hours=4, seconds=20)
t2 = timedelta(days=7, hours=5, minutes=3, seconds=30)
t3 = t1 - t2
print("t3 =", t3)

t3 = 86 days, 22:56:50
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