If you want to format a datetime using datetime.strptime(), the format needs to match the original string. If there is a mismatch between the format and the original string, strptime will not be able to parse the string and will raise the ValueError: unconverted data remains.
To solve this error, ensure that the format you are using matches the string you want to parse.
This tutorial will go through the error in detail and how to solve it with code examples.
Table of contents
- Python ValueError: unconverted data remains
- Example
- Solution
- Format Code List
- Summary
Python ValueError: unconverted data remains
In Python, a value is a piece of information stored within a particular object. We will encounter a ValueError in Python when using a built-in operation or function that receives an argument that is the right type but an inappropriate value. In this specific error, the data we pass to the datetime.strptime() method is the correct type, string, but has an incorrect format.
The strptime method is available in the DateTime module and formats a timestamp in string format to a datetime object. The syntax of the method is as follows:
datetime.strptime(date_string, format)
Parameters
date_string: Required. String to convert to datetime object.format: Required. Format code
Returns
The method returns a datetime object corresponding to date_string, parsed according to format.
ValueError is raised if time.strptime() cannot parse date_string and format.
Example
Let’s look at an example where we want to convert a string representing a string to a datetime object.
from datetime import datetime # Define date string date_string = '19 March, 2021 21:23' # Convert date string to datetime object date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%d %B, %Y") print(date_object)
Let’s run the code to see what happens:
~/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/_strptime.py in _strptime(data_string, format)
350 (data_string, format))
351 if len(data_string) != found.end():
--> 352 raise ValueError("unconverted data remains: %s" %
353 data_string[found.end():])
354
ValueError: unconverted data remains: 21:23
The error occurs because the part of the string ‘21:23‘ does not match the format_code ‘%d %B, %Y‘
Solution
To solve this error we need to include hours and minutes in the format code. The format code for hours is %H and for minutes is %M. Let’s look at the revised code:
from datetime import datetime # Define date string date_string = '19 March, 2021 21:23' # Convert date string to datetime object date_object = datetime.strptime(date_string, "%d %B, %Y %H:%M") print(date_object)
Let’s run the code to see the result:
2021-03-19 21:23:00
We successfully converted the string to a datetime object using datetime.strptime().
Format Code List
| Format code | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| %a | Abbreviated weekday name | Sun, Mon,… |
| %A | Full weekday name | Sunday, Monday, … |
| %w | Weekday as a decimal number | 0, 1, …, 6 |
| %d | Day of the month as a zero-padded decimal | 01, 02, …, 31 |
| %-d | Day of the month as a decimal number | 1, 2, …, 30 |
| %b | Abbreviated month name | Jan, Feb, …, Dec |
| %B | Full month name | January, February, … |
| %m | Month as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, …, 12 |
| %-m | Month as a decimal number | 1, 2, …, 12 |
| %y | Year without century as a zero-padded decimal number | 00, 01, …, 99 |
| %-y | Year without century as a decimal number | 0, 1, …, 99 |
| %Y | Year with century as a decimal number | 2013, 2014, … |
| %H | Hour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number | 00, 01, …, 23 |
| %-H | Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number | 0, 1, …, 23 |
| %I | Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number | 01, 02, …, 12 |
| %-I | Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number | 1, 2, …, 12 |
| %p | Locale’s AM or PM | AM, PM |
| %M | Minute as a zero-padded decimal number | 00, 01, …, 59 |
| %-M | Minute as a decimal number | 0, 1, …, 59 |
| %S | Second as a zero-padded number | 00, 01, …, 59 |
| %-S | Second as a decimal number | 0, 1, …, 59 |
| %f | Microsecond as a decimal number, zero-padded on the left | 000000 – 999999 |
| %z | UTC offset in the form +HHMM or -HHMM | |
| %Z | Time zone name | |
| %j | Day of the year as a zero-padded decimal number | 001, 002, …, 366 |
| %-j | Day of the year as a decimal number | 1, 2, …, 366 |
| %U | Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week). All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are in week 0 | 00, 01, …, 53 |
| %W | Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week). All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are in week 0 | 00, 01, …, 53 |
| %c | Locale’s appropriate date and time representation | Mon Apr 11 08:56:02 2022 |
| %x | Locale’s appropriate date representation | 04/11/22 |
| %X | Locale’s appropriate time representation | 08:56:02 |
| %% | A Literal ‘%’ character | % |
Summary
Congratulations on reading to the end of this tutorial! The ValueError: unconverted data remains occurs when the string has a format that does not match the format code of the datetime.strptime() method.
For further reading on datetime objects, go to the article: How to Solve Python AttributeError: ‘Series’ object has no attribute ‘strftime’
To learn more about Python for data science and machine learning, go to the online courses page on Python for the most comprehensive courses available.
Have fun and happy researching!
Here is my Transaction class:
class Transaction(object):
def __init__(self, company, num, price, date, is_buy):
self.company = company
self.num = num
self.price = price
self.date = datetime.strptime(date, "%Y-%m-%d")
self.is_buy = is_buy
And when I’m trying to run the date function:
tr = Transaction('AAPL', 600, '2013-10-25')
print tr.date
I’m getting the following error:
self.date = datetime.strptime(self.d, "%Y-%m-%d")
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'strptime'
How can I fix that?
Aran-Fey
37.9k11 gold badges99 silver badges143 bronze badges
asked Oct 20, 2013 at 16:45
2
If I had to guess, you did this:
import datetime
at the top of your code. This means that you have to do this:
datetime.datetime.strptime(date, "%Y-%m-%d")
to access the strptime method. Or, you could change the import statement to this:
from datetime import datetime
and access it as you are.
The people who made the datetime module also named their class datetime:
#module class method
datetime.datetime.strptime(date, "%Y-%m-%d")
answered Oct 20, 2013 at 16:46
4
Use the correct call: strptime is a classmethod of the datetime.datetime class, it’s not a function in the datetime module.
self.date = datetime.datetime.strptime(self.d, "%Y-%m-%d")
As mentioned by Jon Clements in the comments, some people do from datetime import datetime, which would bind the datetime name to the datetime class, and make your initial code work.
To identify which case you’re facing (in the future), look at your import statements
import datetime: that’s the module (that’s what you have right now).from datetime import datetime: that’s the class.
answered Oct 20, 2013 at 16:46
Thomas OrozcoThomas Orozco
51.9k9 gold badges110 silver badges115 bronze badges
1
I got the same problem and it is not the solution that you told. So I changed the «from datetime import datetime» to «import datetime». After that with
the help of «datetime.datetime» I can get the whole modules correctly. I guess this is the correct answer to that question.
answered Mar 14, 2020 at 22:42
KursadKursad
1031 silver badge6 bronze badges
Values may differ depending on usage.
import datetime
date = datetime.datetime.now()
date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d') # date variable type is datetime
The value of the date variable must be a string::
date = '2021-09-06'
datetime.datetime.strptime(date, "%Y-%m-%d")
str(datetime.datetime.strptime(date, "%Y-%m-%d")) # show differently
answered Sep 6, 2021 at 6:34
AyseAyse
5073 silver badges11 bronze badges
The solutions mentioned by the others are correct. But for me, it was a problem with another library importing datetime module for me and overriding the datetime class I was importing.
an example with tsai library:
from datetime import datetime
from tsai.all import *
This will give you the error: 'module' object has no attribute 'strptime'.
In this case, just flip the order of imports or just don’t import everything (even if the documentation does that) :
from tsai.all import *
from datetime import datetime
answered Dec 19, 2022 at 15:25
bibs2091bibs2091
111 silver badge3 bronze badges
Table of Contents
Hide
- What is AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’
- How to resolve AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’
- Solution 1: Import the datetime module directly and access the method through its class name
- Approach 2 – Import the datetime class from the datetime module
- Conclusion
The AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’ occurs if you have imported the datetime module and directly if we are using the datetime.strptime() method on the datetime module.
The datetime is a module, and it does not have the strptime() method; instead, we need to use the datetime class name, which has the method correct method and the syntax for the same is datetime.datetime.strptime()
In this tutorial, we will look into what exactly is AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’ and how to resolve the error with examples.
First, let us see how to reproduce this issue and why developers face this particular issue with a simple example.
# import datetime module
import datetime
start_date = "2022-05-06"
# convert into datetime object and print
print(datetime.strptime(start_date, "%Y-%m-%d"))
Output
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "c:PersonalIJSCodeCode.py", line 7, in <module>
print(datetime.strptime(start_date, "%Y-%m-%d"))
AttributeError: module 'datetime' has no attribute 'strptime'In the above example, we are importing the datetime module and trying to convert the string datetime to a datetime object using the datetime.strptime() method.
When we run the code, we get an AttributeError: module ‘datetime’ has no attribute ‘strptime’
The issue occurs because the datetime module does not have a strptime() method, and hence it is throwing an error.
The datetime module has a class name called datetime which in turn has the method strptime().
Since the module name and class name are also the same, it leads to a lot of confusion for the new developers, and they feel it’s ambiguous to use datetime multiple times.
How to resolve AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’
We can resolve the ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’ by using the strptime() method, which is present inside the datetime class.
There are two ways to access the strptime() method correctly.
Solution 1: Import the datetime module directly and access the method through its class name
If you are importing the datetime module directly, then the best way to resolve the error is to use datetime.datetime.strptime() method.
Syntax
datetime.datetime.strptime()Here the first datetime is a module and the second datetime is a class which has a method strptime()
Example –
# import datetime module
import datetime
start_date = "2022-05-06"
# convert into datetime object and print
print(datetime.datetime.strptime(start_date, "%Y-%m-%d"))
Output
2022-05-06 00:00:00Approach 2 – Import the datetime class from the datetime module
Another way to resolve the issue is to import the datetime class directly using the syntax from datetime import datetime
Syntax
from datetime import datetimeWhile using the from syntax, we import the datetime class directly and using the class name; we can access all of its methods. We do not have to prefix/use the module name here.
Example –
# import datetime class from datetime module
from datetime import datetime
start_date = "2022-05-06"
# convert into datetime object and print
print(datetime.strptime(start_date, "%Y-%m-%d"))
Output
2022-05-06 00:00:00Conclusion
The datetime module does not have the strptime() method; hence if we try to use datetime.strptime() directly we get AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘strptime’
We can resolve the issue using the datetime class name instead of the datetime module. An alternate way is to import the datetime class using the from keyword directly.
Srinivas Ramakrishna is a Solution Architect and has 14+ Years of Experience in the Software Industry. He has published many articles on Medium, Hackernoon, dev.to and solved many problems in StackOverflow. He has core expertise in various technologies such as Microsoft .NET Core, Python, Node.JS, JavaScript, Cloud (Azure), RDBMS (MSSQL), React, Powershell, etc.
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Продолжаем цикл статей по управлению датой и временем. На прошлых уроках, мы прошли вводный курс по модулю DateTime, и методу strftime. Сегодня разберем на примерах, как создать объект DateTime из строки.
Метод для создания объекта из строки strptime(). Важно понимать, что мы не можем создавать объект DateTime из любой строки, строка должна иметь определенный формат.
Пример 1. Объект string для DateTime
from datetime import datetime
date_s = "11 June, 2021"
print("date_s =", date_s)
print("Тип date_s =", type(date_s))
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_s, "%d %B, %Y")
print("date_object =", date_object)
print("Тип date_object =", type(date_object))
Результат:
date_s = 11 June, 2021
type of date_s = <class 'str'>
date_object = 2021-06-11 00:00:00
type of date_object = <class 'datetime.datetime'>
Функция strptime принимает два аргумента:
- Строка (которая в итоге преобразуется в дату и время)
- Код формата (все коды формата описаны ниже)
Основываясь на этих двух аргументах, при их правильном формате, метод вернет нам объект DateTime. Разберем визуализацию выше приведенного примера.
- %d — День месяца (01,02,….31)
- %B — Название месяца (Январь, Февраль….Декабрь)
- %Y -Год из четырех цифр (2018,2019,…2021)
Пример 2. Объект string DateTime
from datetime import datetime
dt_s = "12/11/2020 09:15:32"
# Считываем дату в формате dd/mm/yyyy format
dt_object1 = datetime.strptime(dt_s, "%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S")
print("dt_object1 =", dt_object1)
# Считываем дату в формате mm/dd/yyyy format
dt_object2 = datetime.strptime(dt_s, "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S")
print("dt_object2 =", dt_object2)
Результат:
dt_object1 = 2018-11-12 09:15:32
dt_object2 = 2018-12-11 09:15:32
Список кодов strptime()
| Директива | Значение | Пример |
| %a | Сокращенное название дня недели. | Вс.Пн.Вт |
| %A | Полное название дня недели. | Воскресенье, понедельник |
| %w | День недели в виде десятичного числа. | 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 |
| %d | День месяца в с добавлением нуля. | 01,02,03,….31 |
| %-d | День месяца в виде числа. | 1,2,3,4,5….31 |
| %b | Сокращенное название месяца. | Янв.Февр,Мар |
| %B | Полное название месяца. | Январь, февраль, Март |
| %m | Месяц в виде числа с нулевым заполнением. | 01,02,03…12 |
| %-m | Месяц в виде десятичного числа. | 1,2,3,…12 |
| %y | Год без столетия как десятичное число с нулевой подкладкой. | 01,02,03…99 |
| %-y | Год без столетия как десятичное число. | 1,2,3,…99 |
| %Y | Год с веком в виде десятичного числа. | 2010,2011,…2021 |
| %H | Час (24-часовые часы) с нулевым заполнением. | 00,01,02,…23 |
| %-H | Час (24-часовые часы) как десятичное число. | 1,2,3,…23 |
| %I | Час (12-часовые часы) с нулевым заполнением. | 01,02,03,…12 |
| %-I | Час (12-часовые часы) как десятичное число. | 1,2,3…12 |
| %p | AM/PM | |
| %M | Минута в виде числа с нулевым заполнением. | 00,01,02,…59 |
| %-M | Минута как десятичное число. | 1,2,3,…59 |
| %S | Секунды с нулевым заполнением | 00,01,02,…59 |
| %-S | Секунды как десятичное значение | 0,1,2,3…59 |
| %f | Микросекунда в виде десятичного числа, слева-ноль. | 000000-999999 |
| %z | Смещение UTC в виде +HHMM или -HHMM. | |
| %Z | Название часового пояса. | |
| %j | День года в виде десятичного числа, дополненного нулем. | 001,002,003,…366 |
| %-j | День года в виде десятичного числа. | 1,2,3,….366 |
| %U | Номер недели года (воскресенье как первый день недели). Все дни в новом году, предшествующие первому воскресенью, считаются неделей 0. | 00,01,02,..53 |
| %W | Номер недели года (понедельник как первый день недели). Все дни в новом году, предшествующие первому понедельнику, считаются неделей 0. | 00,01,02,..53 |
| %c | Соответствующее представление даты и времени локали. | Пн 30 сентября 07:06:05 2013 |
| %x | Соответствующее представление даты локали. | 09/30/13 |
| %X | Соответствующее представление времени локали. | 07:06:05 |
| %% | Буквальный символ»%». | % |
ValueError в strptime()
Мы с вами уже определились, что строка передаваемая в качестве аргумента, должна иметь определенный формат. В случае если переданные аргументы в strptime() некорректны, то мы получим ошибку ValueError. Наример:
from datetime import datetime
date_s = "12/11/2018"
date_object = datetime.strptime(date_s, "%d %m %Y")
print("date_object =", date_object)
Результат:
ValueError: time data '12/11/2018' does not match format '%d %m %Y'
In this Python article, we will discuss the use of strptime function, and how to use this to convert string to a datetime object. We will also discuss various examples to understand the concept better. Let’s get started.
1. What is the use of datetime strptime in Python?
We use the function or method
strptime()to convert a provided string into a DateTime object. The condition is that the string should be a valid representation of datetime.
The datetime.strptime() function intakes a time signifying string in different formats; a struct_time is returned in either gmtime() format or localtime() format.
The strptime takes the parameter similar to directives used by strftime function. The default format is “%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y”, its formatting is the same that is returned by ctime().
When the provided string format is invalid or when the parsed value has too much data then ValueError is thrown.
Syntax:
time.strptime(string[, format])
#or
datetime.strptime(date_string, format)
Parameters
- string − The input time string which is parsed and converted to the object.
- format − To parse the provided string, format directive is used.
According to the provided string and format code, the strptime() function returns an equivalent datetime object.
2. Different format Code List
| Directive | Specification | Output |
|---|---|---|
| %a | used for an abbreviated name for weekdays | Sun, Mon, …, Sat |
| %A | used for the full name of a weekday | Sunday, Monday, …, Saturday |
| %w | used to represent the weekday in whole numbers with 0 as of Sunday and 6 as of Saturday and other values in between as different weekdays. | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| %d | used to represent the day of a month in a zero-padded number way. | 01, 02, …, 31 |
| %b | used to represent the abbreviated name for the month. | Jan, Feb, …, Dec |
| %B | used to represent the full name for the month. | January, February, …, December |
| %m | used to represent the month in a zero-padded number way. | 01, 02 … 12 |
| %y | used to represent a specific year as a zero-padded decimal number without displaying the century. | 01, 02, … 99 |
| %Y | used to represent a specific year as a decimal number with displaying the century. | 0001, 0002, … , 9999 |
| %H | used to represent the hour in the 24-hour clock format in a zero-padded decimal number way. | 01, 02, … , 23 |
| %I | used to represent the hour in the 12-hour clock format in a zero-padded decimal number way. | 01, 02, … , 12 |
| %p | used to represent AM or PM. | AM, PM (en_US) |
| %M | used to represent the minute in a zero-padded decimal number way. | 01, 02, … , 59 |
| %S | used to represent the second in a zero-padded decimal number way. | 01, 02, … , 59 |
| %f | used to represent the Microsecond in a zero-padded decimal number way to its left. | 000000, 000001, …, 999999 Not applicable with time module. |
| %z | used to represent the ±HHMM[SS] calculated from the UTC according to the local time. (naive object returns an empty string). | (empty), +0000, -0400, +1030 |
| %Z | used to represent the name of the time zone. | (empty), UTC, IST, CST |
| %j | used to represent the particular day of the year in a zero-padded decimal number way. | 001, 002, …, 366 |
| %U | used to represent the particular week number of the year in a zero-padded decimal number way. After a new year, days after the first Sunday are marked to be in week 0. |
00, 01, …, 53 |
| %W | used to represent the particular week number of the year in a zero-padded decimal number way. After a new year, days after the first Monday are marked to be in week 0. |
00, 01, …, 53 |
| %c | used to represent the local appropriate date and time. | Tue Aug 16 21:30:00 1988 |
| %x | used to represent the local appropriate date. | 08/16/88 (None) 08/16/1988 |
| %X | used to represent the local appropriate time. | 21:30:00 |
| %% | used to represent a “%” character as a literal. | % |
3. datetime.strptime examples in Python
Let’s take some examples in different programs to see how to use them.
import datetime
provided_datetime_string_1 = "05/07/2021 12:15:32"
f1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(provided_datetime_string_1, "%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S")
print("format1 =", f1)
f2 = datetime.datetime.strptime(provided_datetime_string_1, "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S")
print("format2 =", f2)
Output format1 = 2021-07-05 12:15:32 format2 = 2021-05-07 12:15:32
import time
print(time.strptime('Fri Jul 05 13:01:02 2021'))
Output time.struct_time(tm_year=2021, tm_mon=7, tm_mday=5, tm_hour=13, tm_min=1, tm_sec=2, tm_wday=4, tm_yday=186, tm_isdst=-1)
import datetime string = '12::17::39' f1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(string, '%H::%M::%S').time() print(type(f1)) print(f1)
Output 12:17:39
3. ValueError in datetime strptime()
When the string provided by the user and the prescribed format code in the strptime() function doesn’t match then an error is generated which is ValueError.
Read more about errors and error handling in Python
import datetime string = '12::two minutes::39' f1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(string, '%H::%M::%S').time() print(f1)
Output Traceback (most recent call last): File "main.py", line 4, inf1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(string, '%H::%M::%S').time()File "/usr/lib/python3.4/_strptime.py", line 337, in _strptime(data_string, format))ValueError: time data '12::two minutes::39' does not match format '%H::%M::%S'
We can remove such errors using exception handling by catching the exception and correcting it.
Let’s do it on one other example. Try the above yourself after watching one.
import datetime
import time
input_string_1 = '07/2021/05 12:45:49'
try:
object1 = datetime.datetime.strptime(input_string_1, '%m/%d/%y')
except ValueError as exception:
print('Error Raised: ', exception)
input_string_2 = '99::55::26'
try:
object2 = time.strptime(input_string_2, '%H::%M::%S')
except ValueError as exception:
print('Error Raised: ', exception)
Output Error Raised: time data '07/2021/05 12:45:49' does not match format '%m/%d/%y' Error Raised: time data '99::55::26' does not match format '%H::%M::%S'
4. Conclusion
Finally, if we sum up, in this article we learned everything about the strptime function/method. We covered how to use and why to use the strptime function for milliseconds and different input formats, we also covered:
- What is the use of Strptime in python and how to use the strptime in python
- Different format Code List for the strptime function/method
- ValueError in strptime() and how to remove the valueerror in strptime() fucntion
Read More: We recommend going through another article to convert a datetime object to formatted string using strftime()
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