Date and Time Handling

The datetime Module

Python's built-in datetime module handles dates and times — getting the current date, formatting it, and calculating differences between dates.

Current Date & Time

from datetime import datetime
now = datetime.now()
print("Now      :", now)
print("Year     :", now.year)
print("Month    :", now.month)
print("Day      :", now.day)

Formatting with strftime

strftime() turns a date into a nicely formatted string.

Program 1: Today in Different Formats

from datetime import datetime
today = datetime.now()
print(today.strftime("%d/%m/%Y"))
print(today.strftime("%A, %d %B %Y"))
print(today.strftime("Time: %H:%M"))

Program 2: Age Calculator

from datetime import date
birth = date(2008, 5, 15)
today = date.today()
age = today.year - birth.year
# adjust if birthday has not happened yet this year
if (today.month, today.day) < (birth.month, birth.day):
    age -= 1
print("Age:", age, "years")

Subtracting years gives a rough age; the if corrects it if the birthday has not occurred yet this year.

Program 3: Days Until a Date

from datetime import date
exam = date(2026, 12, 1)
today = date.today()
diff = exam - today
print("Days until exam:", diff.days)

Subtracting two dates gives a timedelta; .days reads the number of days.

Common Mistakes

• Confusing date (just date) with datetime (date + time).
• Wrong strftime codes (e.g. %M is minute, %m is month).
• Forgetting to import: from datetime import datetime.

Practice Tasks

1. Print today's date as "Day-Month-Year".
2. Calculate how many days you have been alive.
3. Print the current weekday name.
4. Count the days left until your next birthday.

Summary

• The datetime module handles dates and times.
• datetime.now() / date.today() get the current moment.
• strftime() formats dates; subtracting dates gives day differences.