python: how to handle timestamps (ISO8601)

Question

I have to deal in python with strings representing iso8601 timestamps.

My timestamps string are therefore in the following form:

timestamp = \"2011-0         


        

Answer 1

You'll need to add an external module that provides timezone support; the pytz module provides you with the necessary timezone database.

You'll either need to parse the timezone by hand to construct a pytz timezone, or use a package like zc.iso8601 or iso8601 to do the parsing for you:

from zc.iso8601.parse import datetimetz
datetimetz(timestamp)

Answer 2

The python iso8601 module is built with a wonderful parse_date method that can handle timezone info :

>>> import iso8601
>>> iso8601.parse_date("2007-01-25T12:00:00Z")
datetime.datetime(2007, 1, 25, 12, 0, tzinfo=<iso8601.iso8601.Utc ...>)

>>> iso8601.parse_date("2011-08-18T10:29:47+03:00")
datetime.datetime(2011, 8, 18, 10, 29, 47, tzinfo=<FixedOffset '+03:00'>)

If you want to convert it in another timezone, use the astimezone(tz) method

If you need to get the UTC datetime you can use the utctimetuple() method.