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Python Date & Time

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Introduction

Python Data Types & Oper...

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Python Date & Time

Python Date & Time

Time plays a big role in programming—whether you’re tracking when a file was updated or delaying code execution. Python provides powerful tools for working with date and time, mainly through the time and calendar modules.

time.time(): Ticks Since Epoch

Python tracks time in seconds since January 1, 1970 (Epoch time).

				
					import time
print(time.time())

Output:

				
					1720154981.6328802

This number is known as a tick—a floating point value counting seconds since the epoch.

Human-Readable Time with time.ctime()

To see the current time in a readable format:

				
					import time
print(time.ctime())

Output:

				
					Fri Jul 05 14:29:41 2025

time.sleep(): Pause the Code

You can pause the program for a few seconds using sleep():

				
					import time
print("Wait for 3 seconds...")
time.sleep(3)
print("Done waiting!")

Output:

				
					Wait for 3 seconds...
Done waiting!

Working with struct_time

Python represents time as a struct_time object with 9 fields:

Index	Field	Example	Description
0	tm_year	2025	Year
1	tm_mon	7	Month (1–12)
2	tm_mday	5	Day of the month
3	tm_hour	14	Hour (0–23)
4	tm_min	29	Minute (0–59)
5	tm_sec	41	Second (0–61)
6	tm_wday	5	Day of week (Mon=0)
7	tm_yday	186	Day of year (1–366)
8	tm_isdst	0	Daylight Saving Time

Local Time – time.localtime()

Returns the local time in struct_time form.

				
					import time
print(time.localtime(1720154981.6328802))

Output:

				
					time.struct_time(tm_year=2025, tm_mon=7, tm_mday=5, tm_hour=14, tm_min=29, tm_sec=41, tm_wday=5, tm_yday=186, tm_isdst=0)

UTC Time – time.gmtime()

Returns UTC time (not your local time):

				
					import time
print(time.gmtime(1720154981.6328802))

Output:

				
					time.struct_time(tm_year=2025, tm_mon=7, tm_mday=5, tm_hour=9, tm_min=29, tm_sec=41, tm_wday=5, tm_yday=186, tm_isdst=0)

time.mktime(): Convert to Epoch Time

Converts a local struct_time to ticks (seconds since epoch):

				
					import time
my_time = (2025, 7, 5, 14, 0, 0, 5, 186, 0)
print(time.mktime(my_time))

Output:

				
					1720154400.0

time.asctime(): struct_time → String

Converts a struct_time to a string format:

				
					import time
my_time = (2025, 7, 5, 14, 0, 0, 5, 186, 0)
print(time.asctime(my_time))

Output:

				
					Sat Jul  5 14:00:00 2025

time.strptime(): String → struct_time

Parses a date string into a struct_time:

				
					import time
date_str = "5 July, 2025"
print(time.strptime(date_str, "%d %B, %Y"))

Output:

				
					time.struct_time(tm_year=2025, tm_mon=7, tm_mday=5, tm_hour=0, tm_min=0, tm_sec=0, tm_wday=5, tm_yday=186, tm_isdst=-1)

Calendar Module

Want to print a calendar for a full month?

				
					import calendar
print(calendar.month(2025, 7))

Output:

				
					     July 2025
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
    1  2  3  4  5  6
 7  8  9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

Summary

Use the time module to get and format current or specific time.
Use calendar to generate and display calendar views.
You can convert between timestamps, human-readable formats, and structured time formats.

Keep this lesson in your toolbox—you’ll need it often when working with logs, delays, or time tracking in Python projects.