I'm having trouble converting a string to data format. I'm using the time module to convert a string to the YYYY-MM-DD format. The code below is what I've tried but I get the following error.
sre_constants.error: redefinition of group name 'Y' as group 5; was group 3
Here is the code
import time
review_date = "April 18, 2018"
review_date = time.strptime(review_date, '%m %d %Y %I:%Y%m%d')
Firstly, the error is because you're using %Y, %m, and %d twice in your time.strptime() call.
Secondly, you're using the wrong format. The format you pass to strptime() has to match the format of the date / time string you pass, which in this case is: %B %d, %Y.
This is a good reference on the different format types.
I normally use datetime for this:
from datetime import datetime
review_date = "April 18, 2018"
review_date = datetime.strptime(review_date, '%B %d, %Y').strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
This code returns review_date = '2018-04-18'. See https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html
The date format for April is %B. strptime() converts to a datetime object, .strftime() converts the datetime object to a string.
time.strptime() is for parsing strings into date/time structures. It takes two arguments, the string to be parsed and another string describing the format of the string to be parsed.
Try this:
time.strptime("April 18, 2018", "%B %d, %Y")
... and notice that "%B %d, %Y" is:
The format string specification that you provided bears no resemblance to the formatting of your date string.
These "magic" formatting codes are enumerated in the documentation for time.strftime()
review_date = time.strptime(review_date, '%B %d, %Y')
import time
review_date = "April 18, 2018"
review_date = time.strptime(review_date, '%B %d, %Y')
That's what you should have
'%B %d, %Y'. If you use month name, then its %B instead of %m.