How to compare two dates?

How would I compare two dates to see which is later, using Python?

For example, I want to check if the current date is past the last date in this list I am creating, of holiday dates, so that it will send an email automatically, telling the admin to update the holiday.txt file.

Answers:

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Method 1

Use the datetime method and the operator < and its kin.

>>> from datetime import datetime, timedelta
>>> past = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=1)
>>> present = datetime.now()
>>> past < present
True
>>> datetime(3000, 1, 1) < present
False
>>> present - datetime(2000, 4, 4)
datetime.timedelta(4242, 75703, 762105)

Method 2

Use time

Let’s say you have the initial dates as strings like these:

date1 = "31/12/2015"
date2 = "01/01/2016"

You can do the following:

newdate1 = time.strptime(date1, "%d/%m/%Y")
newdate2 = time.strptime(date2, "%d/%m/%Y")

to convert them to python’s date format. Then, the comparison is obvious:

• newdate1 > newdate2 will return False
• newdate1 < newdate2 will return True

Method 3

datetime.date(2011, 1, 1) < datetime.date(2011, 1, 2) will return True.

datetime.date(2011, 1, 1) - datetime.date(2011, 1, 2) will return datetime.timedelta(-1).

datetime.date(2011, 1, 1) + datetime.date(2011, 1, 2) will return datetime.timedelta(1).

see the docs.

Method 4

Other answers using datetime and comparisons also work for time only, without a date.

For example, to check if right now it is more or less than 8:00 a.m., we can use:

import datetime

eight_am = datetime.time( 8,0,0 ) # Time, without a date

And later compare with:

datetime.datetime.now().time() > eight_am

which will return True

Method 5

With python as the easiest language available it is pretty easy to compare dates in python the python operators <, > and == fit wonderfully with datetime objects.
each of them has their own meaning in python:

• < means the date is earlier than the first
• > means the date comes later
• == means the date is same as the first
  So, for your case:

import datetime

date = datetime.datetime(2000, 1, 1) # Replace with whatever you want
now = datetime.datetime.now() # You can even find the current date and time using this expression

if date < now:
    print('past')
elif date > now:
    print('future')
else:
    print('present')
# This would print "past"

Method 6

For calculating days in two dates difference, can be done like below:

import datetime
import math

issuedate = datetime(2019,5,9)   #calculate the issue datetime
current_date = datetime.datetime.now() #calculate the current datetime
diff_date = current_date - issuedate #//calculate the date difference with time also
amount = fine  #you want change

if diff_date.total_seconds() > 0.0:   #its matching your condition
    days = math.ceil(diff_date.total_seconds()/86400)  #calculate days (in 
    one day 86400 seconds)
    deductable_amount = round(amount,2)*days #calclulated fine for all days

Becuase if one second is more with the due date then we have to charge

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0