How would I compare two dates to see which is later, using Python?
For example, I want to check if the current date is past the last date in this list I am creating, of holiday dates, so that it will send an email automatically, telling the admin to update the holiday.txt file.
6 Answers
Use the datetime method and the operator < and its kin.
>>> from datetime import datetime, timedelta
>>> past = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=1)
>>> present = datetime.now()
>>> past < present
True
>>> datetime(3000, 1, 1) < present
False
>>> present - datetime(2000, 4, 4)
datetime.timedelta(4242, 75703, 762105)
Use time
Let's say you have the initial dates as strings like these:
date1 = "31/12/2015"
date2 = "01/01/2016"
You can do the following:
newdate1 = time.strptime(date1, "%d/%m/%Y")
newdate2 = time.strptime(date2, "%d/%m/%Y")
to convert them to python's date format. Then, the comparison is obvious:
newdate1 > newdate2will returnFalsenewdate1 < newdate2will returnTrue
datetime.date(2011, 1, 1) < datetime.date(2011, 1, 2) will return True.
datetime.date(2011, 1, 1) - datetime.date(2011, 1, 2) will return datetime.timedelta(-1).
datetime.date(2011, 1, 1) + datetime.date(2011, 1, 2) will return datetime.timedelta(1).
see the docs.
Other answers using datetime and comparisons also work for time only, without a date.
For example, to check if right now it is more or less than 8:00 a.m., we can use:
import datetime
eight_am = datetime.time( 8,0,0 ) # Time, without a date
And later compare with:
datetime.datetime.now().time() > eight_am
which will return True
With python as the easiest language available it is pretty easy to compare dates in python the python operators <, > and == fit wonderfully with datetime objects.
each of them has their own meaning in python:
<means the date is earlier than the first>means the date comes later==means the date is same as the first So, for your case:
import datetime
date = datetime.datetime(2000, 1, 1) # Replace with whatever you want
now = datetime.datetime.now() # You can even find the current date and time using this expression
if date < now:
print('past')
elif date > now:
print('future')
else:
print('present')
# This would print "past"
For calculating days in two dates difference, can be done like below:
import datetime
import math
issuedate = datetime(2019,5,9) #calculate the issue datetime
current_date = datetime.datetime.now() #calculate the current datetime
diff_date = current_date - issuedate #//calculate the date difference with time also
amount = fine #you want change
if diff_date.total_seconds() > 0.0: #its matching your condition
days = math.ceil(diff_date.total_seconds()/86400) #calculate days (in
one day 86400 seconds)
deductable_amount = round(amount,2)*days #calclulated fine for all days
Becuase if one second is more with the due date then we have to charge
