How to add Hours to Datetime in Python

# Add hours to datetime in Python

Use the timedelta() class from the datetime module to add hours to datetime, e.g. result = dt + timedelta(hours=10).

The timedelta class can be passed a hours argument and adds the specified number of hours to the datetime.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, timedelta

d = '2023-11-24 09:30:00.000123'

# 👇️ convert string to datetime object
dt = datetime.strptime(d, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f')

print(dt)  # 👉️ 2023-11-24 09:30:00.000123

result = dt + timedelta(hours=3)
print(result)  # 👉️ 2023-11-24 12:30:00.000123

add hours to datetime

The code for this article is available on GitHub

If you only have a time component, e.g. 09:30:15 scroll down to the last code snippet.

Make sure to import the datetime and timedelta classes from the datetime module.

The example creates a datetime object from a datetime string and adds hours to it.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, timedelta

d = '2023-11-24 09:30:00.000123'

# 👇️ convert string to datetime object
dt = datetime.strptime(d, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f')

print(dt)  # 👉️ 2023-11-24 09:30:00.000123

result_1 = dt + timedelta(hours=3)
print(result_1)  # 👉️ 2023-11-24 12:30:00.000123

The datetime.strptime() method returns a datetime object that corresponds to the provided date string, parsed according to the format.

If you have a date string that is formatted in a different way, use this table of the docs to look up the format codes you should pass as the second argument to the strptime() method.

# Using the `datetime` class to create a `datetime` object

The following example uses the datetime class to create a datetime object and the timedelta class to add hours to it.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, timedelta


dt = datetime(2023, 9, 24, 9, 30, 35)
print(dt)  # 👉️ 2023-09-24 09:30:35

result = dt + timedelta(hours=4)
print(result)  # 👉️ 2023-09-24 13:30:35

use datetime class to create datetime object

The code for this article is available on GitHub

We passed values for the year, month, day, hour, minute and seconds arguments.

# Adding hours to the current time

If you need to add hours to the current time, use the datetime.today() method to get a datetime object that stores the current time.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, timedelta

# ✅ Add hours to current time

now = datetime.today()
print(now)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 05:40:02.239652

result = now + timedelta(hours=5)
print(result)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 10:40:02.239652

add hours to current time

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The datetime.today() method returns the current local datetime.

We need to use a datetime object because it automatically rolls over the days, months and years if necessary.

This wouldn't be possible if we only had the time component. For example, 11:59:30PM + 2 hours would raise an exception.

# Only extracting the time component after adding hours

If you only need to extract the time after the operation, call the time() method on the datetime object.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, timedelta

now = datetime.now()
print(now)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 05:41:07.814924

result = now + timedelta(hours=5)
print(result)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 10:41:07.814924

# ✅ Only get updated time
print(result.time())  # 👉️ 10:41:07.814924

only extract time component after adding hours

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The datetime.time() method returns a time object with the same hour, minute, second and millisecond.

# Formatting the time as HH:MM:SS after adding hours

If you need to get the time formatted as HH:MM:SS, use a formatted string literal.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, timedelta

now = datetime.now()
print(now)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 05:41:40.114944

result = now + timedelta(hours=3)
print(result)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 08:41:40.114944

print(result.time())  # 👉️ 08:41:40.114944

# 👇️ format as HH:MM:SS
print(f'{result:%H:%M:%S}')  # 👉️ 08:41:40

Formatted string literals (f-strings) let us include expressions inside of a string by prefixing the string with f.

Make sure to wrap expressions in curly braces - {expression}.

Formatted string literals also enable us to use the format specification mini-language in expression blocks.

# Adding hours to a time using datetime.combine()

If you only have the time component, use the datetime.combine method to combine the time with the current (or some other) date and get a datetime object.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime, date, timedelta, time

t = time(6, 25)
print(t)  # 👉️ 06:25:00

result = datetime.combine(date.today(), t) + timedelta(hours=6)
print(result)  # 👉️ 2023-02-19 12:25:00

only_t = result.time()
print(only_t)  # 👉️ 12:25:00

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The datetime.combine() method takes a date and time as arguments and returns a new datetime object by combining them.

Once we get a datetime object, we can use the timedelta class to add hours to it.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

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How to add Hours to Datetime in Python

# Add hours to datetime in Python

# Using the datetime class to create a datetime object

# Adding hours to the current time

# Only extracting the time component after adding hours

# Formatting the time as HH:MM:SS after adding hours

# Adding hours to a time using datetime.combine()

# Additional Resources

Borislav Hadzhiev

# Using the `datetime` class to create a `datetime` object