How to convert a datetime.timedelta to String in Python

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# How to convert a datetime.timedelta to String in Python

You can use the str() class to convert a datetime.timedelta object to a string in Python.

Once you pass the timedelta object to the str() constructor, its string representation is returned.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'datetime.timedelta'>


time_delta = str(time_delta)
print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'str'>

python convert datetime timedelta to string

The code for this article is available on GitHub

We subtracted the start datetime object from the end datetime object to get a timedelta object.
The str() class returns the string representation of the timedelta object.

main.py

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time_delta = str(time_delta)

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'str'>

You can also pass the datetime.timedelta object to the print() function to print its string representation.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'datetime.timedelta'>

# String conversion is necessary if you need to concatenate strings

Converting the timedelta object to a string is only necessary if you need to concatenate strings.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'datetime.timedelta'>


time_delta = str(time_delta)

result = time_delta + ' hours ago'

print(result)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00 hours ago

string conversion necessary to concatenate strings

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The code sample uses the addition (+) operator for concatenation.

# Using a formatted string literal for implicit string conversion of a `timedelta` object

However, it should be noted that you can also use a formatted string literal to implicitly convert the timedelta object to a string when concatenating.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'datetime.timedelta'>


time_delta = str(time_delta)

result = f'{time_delta} hours ago'

print(result)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:00 hours ago

using formatted string literal for implicit string conversion

The code for this article is available on GitHub

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}.

# Converting a `timedelta` object to a string to remove the milliseconds

You might also want to convert a timedelta object to a string to remove the milliseconds.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30, 15, 453000)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30, 15, 421000)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 1:59:59.968000
print(type(time_delta))  # 👉️ <class 'datetime.timedelta'>


time_delta = str(time_delta)
time_delta = time_delta.split('.', maxsplit=1)[0]

print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 1:59:59

convert timedelta object to string to remove milliseconds

The code for this article is available on GitHub

We used the str() class to convert the timedelta object to string to be able to call the str.split() method.

We split the string on the period once and accessed the first list element (index 0).

Python indexes are zero-based, so the first item in the list has an index of 0 and the last item has an index of -1 or len(a_list) - 1.

# Formatting the `timedelta` object as a string

If you need to format a timedelta object as a string:

Use the seconds attribute on the timedelta to get the total number of seconds.
Use the divmod() function to calculate the hours, minutes and seconds.
Use a formatted string literal to format the hours, minutes and seconds as a string.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30, 40)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30, 50)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime

total_seconds = time_delta.seconds
print(total_seconds)  # 👉️ 7200

hours, remainder = divmod(total_seconds, 60 * 60)
minutes, seconds = divmod(remainder, 60)

time_delta_string = f'{hours:02}:{minutes:02}:{seconds:02}'

print(time_delta_string)  # 👉️ 02:00:10

formatting timedelta object as string in python

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The seconds attribute on the timedelta object stores the total number of seconds it represents.

main.py

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total_seconds = time_delta.seconds
print(total_seconds)  # 👉️ 7200

The divmod() function takes two numbers and returns a tuple containing 2 values:

The result of dividing the first argument by the second.
The remainder of dividing the first argument by the second.

main.py

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hours, remainder = divmod(total_seconds, 60 * 60)
minutes, seconds = divmod(remainder, 60)

We used the function to calculate the hours, minutes and seconds and used a formatted string literal to format the values.

main.py

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time_delta_string = f'{hours:02}:{minutes:02}:{seconds:02}'

print(time_delta_string)  # 👉️ 02:00:10

The hours, minutes and seconds should be displayed as 2 digits, so we added a leading zero if the values are less than 10.

# Using a reusable function to format the `timedelta` object into a string

You can also use a reusable function to format the timedelta object into a string.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30, 40)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30, 50)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime
print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:10


def td_format(td_object):
    td_components = [
        ('year', 60 * 60 * 24 * 365),
        ('month', 60 * 60 * 24 * 30),
        ('day', 60 * 60 * 24),
        ('hour', 60 * 60),
        ('minute', 60),
        ('second', 1)
    ]

    td_strings = []
    total_seconds = int(td_object.total_seconds())

    for period, seconds_in_period in td_components:
        if total_seconds >= seconds_in_period:
            period_value, total_seconds = divmod(
                total_seconds,
                seconds_in_period
            )

            ends_with_s = 's' if period_value > 1 else ''

            td_strings.append(f'{period_value} {period}{ends_with_s}')

    return ', '.join(td_strings)


# 👇️ 10 days, 2 hours, 10 seconds
print(td_format(time_delta))

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The function iterates over the list of tuples and:

Checks if the total number of seconds in the timedelta exceeds the total number of seconds in the period.
If the condition is met, the if block runs and the period name gets added to the td_strings list.
If the period value is greater than 1, then we add an s at the end of each period name (e.g. second becomes seconds).
The last step is to use the str.join() method to join the strings in the list into a single string with a comma separator.

# Using the `humanize` package to format a `timedelta` in Python

You can also use the humanize package to format a timedelta object in Python.

First, open your terminal in your project's root directory and install the package.

shell

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pip install humanize

# or with pip3
pip3 install humanize

Now import the module and use it as follows.

main.py

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from datetime import datetime
import humanize

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30, 40, 5000)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30, 50, 3000)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime
print(time_delta)  # 👉️ 10 days, 2:00:09.998000

print(humanize.naturaltime(time_delta))  # 👉️ 10 days ago

# 👇️ 10 days, 2 hours and 10.00 seconds
print(humanize.precisedelta(time_delta))

# 👇️ 10 days, 2 hours, 9 seconds and 998 milliseconds
print(
    humanize.precisedelta(
        time_delta,
        minimum_unit="microseconds"
    )
)

# 👇️ 242 hours and 9.9980 seconds
print(
    humanize.precisedelta(
        time_delta,
        suppress=["days"],
        format="%0.4f"
    )
)

using humanize python package to format timedelta

The code for this article is available on GitHub

The humanize package is mostly used to format dates and numeric data into human-readable duration.

You can read more about the module on its pypi page.

# Getting the hours minutes and seconds by using split

You can also get the hours, minutes and seconds by using str.split().

main.py

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from datetime import datetime

start_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 20, 8, 30, 40)
end_datetime = datetime(2023, 9, 30, 10, 30, 50)

time_delta = end_datetime - start_datetime
print(time_delta)

result = str(time_delta).split(', ', maxsplit=1)[1]
print(result)  # 👉️ 2:00:10

getting hours minutes and seconds by using split

The code for this article is available on GitHub

First, convert the timedelta object to a string using the str() class.
Use the str.split() method to split on the comma and space.
Access the second list item (index 1).

Depending on what date/time components your timedelta contains the arguments you pass to the split() method may differ.

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How to convert a datetime.timedelta to String in Python

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