Programming Forums > Script Programming > Python

Steveire · Jan 26th, 2006, 5:30 PM

import time
today = time.strftime("%d %B %Y")
yesterday = str(int(time.strftime("%d"))-1) + time.strftime(" %B %Y")
print today, yesterday

Will work only if 'today' is not the first day of the month, otherwise, it will tell me that yesterday is the 0th of February for example. Is there a SMRT way to use the time module (or any other) to get 'yesterday'?

Aside:
Rather than bumping the other thread again: I got a working MediaWiki bot after finding I was using the wrong version of python with the pywikipediabot.

Sane · Jan 26th, 2006, 5:48 PM

I looked into it. I thought there might be a way to set the timezone back 24 hours. Doesn't look like there is.

Maybe you could change your computer clock with the win32api? But that might be very inconvenient.

I'd just make a short dictionary of how many days in each month, then a general function around that. Wouldn't be too hard (depending how experienced you are).

Sane · Jan 26th, 2006, 6:36 PM

Wee. I decided to try it out myself.

time.gmtime() will convert the seconds since epoch to a date. So if we take the current seconds since epoch time.time() and offset it back a day, voila!

(Toggle Plain Text)

import time

def time_zone( offset = 0 ): # DEFAULT = GMT
    new = time.gmtime( time.time() + offset*60*60 )
    return "Day: %s | Month: %s | Year: %s\n%s:%s:%s"%(new[2],new[1],new[0],new[3],new[4],new[5])

print time_zone( -5 )

I'm -5 from GMT, so if I then set it to -29, it gives me yesterday's date.

Hope this helps. =D

Dietrich · Jan 27th, 2006, 12:53 AM

The module datetime is the one you want to use:

(Toggle Plain Text)

import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
oneday = datetime.timedelta(days=1)
yesterday = today - oneday
print today, yesterday

Steveire · Jan 27th, 2006, 1:19 PM

Thanks both, but it's not in the form I'd like, ie '31 January 2006', '1 Febraury 2006'. Is that as simple? I checked some of the documentation on ptyhon.org, but didn't immediately find anything.

Sane · Jan 27th, 2006, 1:27 PM

You could do that easily by yourself...

o_O I'll throw something up, just a moment.

EDIT:

(Toggle Plain Text)

import time

def yday(time_zone):  #HOURS FROM GMT!!
    new  = time.gmtime(time.time()+(time_zone-24)*3600)
    mon  = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]
    return "%s %s %s"%(new[2],mon[int(new[1])-1],new[0])

today = time.strftime("%d %B %Y")
yesterday = yday(-5)

print today, yesterday

Then just change -5 to how many hours you are from GMT.

Arevos · Jan 27th, 2006, 4:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steveire

Thanks both, but it's not in the form I'd like, ie '31 January 2006', '1 Febraury 2006'. Is that as simple? I checked some of the documentation on ptyhon.org, but didn't immediately find anything.

Just as the time module has the strftime function, which converts a timestamp into a string based on a user-specified formatting template, so too do the objects in the datetime module:

(Toggle Plain Text)

import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
yesterday = today - datetime.timedelta(days = 1)
print today.strftime("%e %B %Y"), yesterday.strftime("%e %B %Y")

The formatting codes seem to tally with those used in the standard Unix "date" command (IIRC, PHP and SQL use the same codes as well). The time module doc page has a list of formatting codes, but this does not appear to be complete. At least under Linux, I find that "%e" represents the day of the month (as it does with the Unix date command), yet this is not listed in the Python documentation.

hydroxide · Jan 28th, 2006, 4:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arevos

At least under Linux, I find that "%e" represents the day of the month

Not under Windows, alas =P

-T.

Dietrich · Jan 28th, 2006, 10:58 AM

With Windows use the same code you use for time:

(Toggle Plain Text)

import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
yesterday = today - datetime.timedelta(days = 1)
print today.strftime("%d %B %Y"), yesterday.strftime("%d %B %Y")  # 28 January 2006   27 January 2006
# or military date
print today.strftime("%d%b%Y"), yesterday.strftime("%d%b%Y")  # 28Jan2006   27Jan2006

Arevos · Jan 28th, 2006, 1:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dietrich

With Windows use the same code you use for time

But %e is subtly different from %d. %d creates "01", whilst %e creates " 1".

Jan 26th, 2006, 5:30 PM	#1
Steveire Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	I can print 'today', but can I print 'yesterday'? (Toggle Plain Text) import time today = time.strftime("%d %B %Y") yesterday = str(int(time.strftime("%d"))-1) + time.strftime(" %B %Y") print today, yesterday import time today = time.strftime("%d %B %Y") yesterday = str(int(time.strftime("%d"))-1) + time.strftime(" %B %Y") print today, yesterday Will work only if 'today' is not the first day of the month, otherwise, it will tell me that yesterday is the 0th of February for example. Is there a SMRT way to use the time module (or any other) to get 'yesterday'? Aside: Rather than bumping the other thread again: I got a working MediaWiki bot after finding I was using the wrong version of python with the pywikipediabot.

Jan 26th, 2006, 6:36 PM	#3
Sane Programming Guru Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,791 Rep Power: 5	Wee. I decided to try it out myself. time.gmtime() will convert the seconds since epoch to a date. So if we take the current seconds since epoch time.time() and offset it back a day, voila! (Toggle Plain Text) import time def time_zone( offset = 0 ): # DEFAULT = GMT new = time.gmtime( time.time() + offset6060 ) return "Day: %s \| Month: %s \| Year: %s\n%s:%s:%s"%(new[2],new[1],new[0],new[3],new[4],new[5]) print time_zone( -5 ) import time def time_zone( offset = 0 ): # DEFAULT = GMT new = time.gmtime( time.time() + offset6060 ) return "Day: %s \| Month: %s \| Year: %s\n%s:%s:%s"%(new[2],new[1],new[0],new[3],new[4],new[5]) print time_zone( -5 ) I'm -5 from GMT, so if I then set it to -29, it gives me yesterday's date. Hope this helps. =D

Jan 27th, 2006, 12:53 AM	#4
Dietrich Professional Programmer Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 434 Rep Power: 4	The module datetime is the one you want to use: (Toggle Plain Text) import datetime today = datetime.date.today() oneday = datetime.timedelta(days=1) yesterday = today - oneday print today, yesterday import datetime today = datetime.date.today() oneday = datetime.timedelta(days=1) yesterday = today - oneday print today, yesterday __________________ I looked it up on the Intergnats!

Jan 27th, 2006, 1:27 PM	#6
Sane Programming Guru Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,791 Rep Power: 5	You could do that easily by yourself... o_O I'll throw something up, just a moment. EDIT: (Toggle Plain Text) import time def yday(time_zone): #HOURS FROM GMT!! new = time.gmtime(time.time()+(time_zone-24)3600) mon = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"] return "%s %s %s"%(new[2],mon[int(new[1])-1],new[0]) today = time.strftime("%d %B %Y") yesterday = yday(-5) print today, yesterday import time def yday(time_zone): #HOURS FROM GMT!! new = time.gmtime(time.time()+(time_zone-24)3600) mon = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"] return "%s %s %s"%(new[2],mon[int(new[1])-1],new[0]) today = time.strftime("%d %B %Y") yesterday = yday(-5) print today, yesterday Then just change -5 to how many hours you are from GMT.

Jan 28th, 2006, 10:58 AM	#9
Dietrich Professional Programmer Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 434 Rep Power: 4	With Windows use the same code you use for time: (Toggle Plain Text) import datetime today = datetime.date.today() yesterday = today - datetime.timedelta(days = 1) print today.strftime("%d %B %Y"), yesterday.strftime("%d %B %Y") # 28 January 2006 27 January 2006 # or military date print today.strftime("%d%b%Y"), yesterday.strftime("%d%b%Y") # 28Jan2006 27Jan2006 import datetime today = datetime.date.today() yesterday = today - datetime.timedelta(days = 1) print today.strftime("%d %B %Y"), yesterday.strftime("%d %B %Y") # 28 January 2006 27 January 2006 # or military date print today.strftime("%d%b%Y"), yesterday.strftime("%d%b%Y") # 28Jan2006 27Jan2006 __________________ I looked it up on the Intergnats!

Jan 26th, 2006, 5:48 PM	#2
Sane Programming Guru Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,791 Rep Power: 5	I looked into it. I thought there might be a way to set the timezone back 24 hours. Doesn't look like there is. Maybe you could change your computer clock with the win32api? But that might be very inconvenient. I'd just make a short dictionary of how many days in each month, then a general function around that. Wouldn't be too hard (depending how experienced you are).

Jan 27th, 2006, 1:19 PM	#5
Steveire Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Thanks both, but it's not in the form I'd like, ie '31 January 2006', '1 Febraury 2006'. Is that as simple? I checked some of the documentation on ptyhon.org, but didn't immediately find anything.

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Programming Forums > Script Programming > Python

I can print 'today', but can I print 'yesterday'?