Convert Y-m-dTH:M:Sz to datetime to compare

Question

I have a string like "2020-01-20T11:00:05-05:00", and I want to compare this with datetime.now() to see if it is greater than it.

I think I need to use datetime.strptime(..., ...) although I don't know what to do about the timezone bit.

How can I solve this?

Thanks.

EDIT: date_time = datetime.strptime("2020-01-20T11:00:05-05:00", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"). This works, however now when I compare them I get TypeError: can't compare offset-naive and offset-aware datetimes.

EDIT2: Perhaps I need to make my datetime.now() timezone aware?

Celius Stingher · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-20T19:06:59.390

As I stated, it seems that link provides the information you need for the question. However I will add a full working example. Using pytz and datetime:

import pytz
from datetime import datetime

now = datetime.now(pytz.utc)
if now < datetime.strptime("2020-01-21T11:00:05-05:00", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"):
    print("A")
else:
    print("B")

Output:

Changing the day to "10" to make sure the statime is True:

if now < datetime.strptime("2020-01-10T11:00:05-05:00", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"):
    print("A")
else:
    print("B")

Output:

Another option as Jason Whitman mentioned using datetime.timezone.utc changing the imports and using it will work:

from datetime import datetime, timezone

now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
if now < datetime.strptime("2020-01-21T11:00:05-05:00", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"):
    print("A")
else:
    print("B")

Why `pytz.utc` rather than `datetime.timezone.utc`? – Jason Whitman Jan 20 '20 at 18:59 — Jason Whitman, Jan 20 '20 at 18:59
It is a valid answer too, I'll edit it adding it. – Celius Stingher Jan 20 '20 at 19:05 — Celius Stingher, Jan 20 '20 at 19:05

Convert Y-m-dTH:M:Sz to datetime to compare

1 Answers1