In this example, we are going to see how to make a timezone-aware DateTime object in Python.
Timezone-aware objects are Python DateTime or time objects that include timezone information. An aware object represents a specific moment in time that is not open to interpretation.
Checking if an object is timezone aware or not:
We can easily check if a datetime object is timezone-aware or not. For this, we will store the current date and time in a new variable using the datetime.now() function of datetime module.
Syntax: datetime.now(tz)
Parameters: tz : Specified time zone of which current time and date is required. (Uses Greenwich Meridian time by default.)
Then we will check the timezone information of the object stored in the tzinfo base class. tzinfo is an abstract base class for time zone information objects.
Python3
# Importing the datetime moduleimport datetime# Storing the current date and time in# a new variable using the datetime.now()# function of datetime modulecurrent_date = datetime.datetime.now()# Checking the timezone information of the# object stored in tzinfo base classif current_date.tzinfo == None or current_date.tzinfo.\ utcoffset(current_date) == None: # If passes the above condition then # the object is unaware print("Unaware")else: # Else printing "Aware" print("Aware") |
Output:
Unaware
Timezone aware object using datetime
For this, we will store the current time in a new variable using the datetime.now().time() function of datetime module. Then we will replace the value of the timezone in the tzinfo class of the object using the replace() function. After that convert the date value into ISO 8601 format using the isoformat() method.
Syntax: isoformat(sep=’T’, timespec=’auto’)
Parameters:
- sep: It is a one character separator placed between date and time.
- timespec: Number of additional component of time to include
Code:
Python3
# Importing the datetime moduleimport datetime# Storing the current date and time in# a new variable using the datetime.now()# function of datetime modulecurrent_date = datetime.datetime.now()# Replacing the value of the timezone in tzinfo class of# the object using the replace() functioncurrent_date = current_date.\ replace(tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)# Converting the date value into ISO 8601# format using isoformat() methodcurrent_date = current_date.isoformat()# Printing the value of current_dateprint(current_date) |
Output:
2021-08-30T09:45:43.291212+00:00
Now let’s check if the object is timezone aware or not using the method we used in the 1st section of the article.
Python3
# Importing the datetime moduleimport datetime# Storing the current date and time in# a new variable using the datetime.now()# function of datetime modulecurrent_date = datetime.datetime.now()# Replacing the value of the timezone in tzinfo class of# the object using the replace() functioncurrent_date = current_date.replace(tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)# Checking the timezone information of the# object stored in tzinfo base classif current_date.tzinfo == None or \current_date.tzinfo.utcoffset(current_date) == None: # If passes the above condition then # the object is unaware print("Unaware")else: # Else printing "Aware" print("Aware")# Converting the date value into ISO 8601# format using isoformat() methodcurrent_date = current_date.isoformat()# Printing the value of current_dateprint(current_date) |
Output:
Aware 2021-08-30T09:55:15.111556+00:00
Timezone aware object using pytz
You can also use the pytz module to create timezone-aware objects.
For this, we will store the current date and time in a new variable using the datetime.now() function of datetime module and then we will add the timezone using timezone function of pytz module.
Python3
# Importing the datetime moduleimport datetimeimport pytz# Storing the current date and time in# a new variable using the datetime.now()# function of datetime module and adding the timezone# using timezone function of pytz module.current_date = datetime.datetime.now(pytz.timezone('Africa/Abidjan'))# Printing the value of current_dateprint(current_date) |
Output:
2021-08-30 04:35:37.036990+00:00
Now let’s check if the object is timezone aware or not using the method we used in the 1st section of the article.
Python3
# Importing the datetime moduleimport datetimeimport pytz# Storing the current date and time in# a new variable using the datetime.now()# function of datetime module and adding the timezone# using timezone function of pytz module.current_date = datetime.datetime.now(pytz.timezone('Africa/Abidjan'))# Checking the timezone information of the# object stored in tzinfo base classif current_date.tzinfo == None or current_date.\tzinfo.utcoffset(current_date)== None: # If passes the above condition then # the object is unaware print("Unaware")else: # Else printing "Aware" print("Aware") # Printing the value of current_dateprint(current_date) |
Output:
Aware 2021-08-30 04:46:40.670455+00:00
