Detect if a variable is a datetime object

Question

I have a variable and I need to know if it is a datetime object.

So far I have been using the following hack in the function to detect datetime object:

i         


        

Answer 1

You can also check using duck typing (as suggested by James).

Here is an example:

from datetime import date, datetime

def is_datetime(dt):
    """
    Returns True if is datetime
    Returns False if is date
    Returns None if it is neither of these things
    """
    try:
        dt.date()
        return True
    except:
        if isinstance(dt, date):
            return False
    return None

Results:

In [8]: dt = date.today()
In [9]: tm = datetime.now()
In [10]: is_datetime(dt)
Out[11]: False
In [12]: is_datetime(tm)
Out[13]: True
In [14]: is_datetime("sdf")
In [15]: