Creating Digital Clock Using Date Shower in Python

Python is a versatile language used for a wide range of applications, including Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) using Tkinter. However, sometimes for simplicity, a command line can be used to create simple applications. Building a Digital Clock with a Date Shower in Python is a perfect example. This article will explore how we can create a Digital Clock With a Date Shower using the command line in Python.

Creating Digital Clock Using Date Shower in Python

To create a digital clock with date shower, we will use Python modules, ‘time‘ and ‘os‘ as these libraries allow us to retrieve the current time and clear the command line output to create an updating display. Below is the step-wise breakdown of the Python code for our digital clock in Python:

Step 1: Importing the libraries

As mentioned above, we will start with importing the standard Python libraries, ‘time‘ and ‘os‘. Here, the ‘time‘ module is used to access the current time, and ‘os’ is used to interact with the operating system to clear the screen.

Python3

# importing libraries
import time
import os

Step 2: Clearing the Screen

To create a dynamic digital clock with a date display, we use the clear_screen function to clear the console screen for each update. The function checks the operating system using os.name and executes the ‘cls‘ command for Windows (‘nt’) or ‘clear‘ for other operating systems to maintain a clean and updated display.

Python3

# defining clear_scree() function
def clear_screen():
    os.system('cls' if os.name == 'nt' else 'clear')

Step 3: Main Function

In the main function, an infinite loop continuously updates the time and date using ‘time.strftime‘. After each update, the ‘clear_screen‘ function is called to clear the console output. The formatted time in both 24-hour and 12-hour formats, along with the formatted date, is then printed. The loop pauses for one second with ‘time.sleep(1)‘ to create a one-second interval between updates.

Python3

# defining main function
def main():
    while True:
        current_time_24hr = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
        current_time_12hr = time.strftime("%I:%M:%S %p")
        current_date = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d")

        # Clear the screen for a fresh update
        clear_screen()

        print(f"24-Hour Format: {current_time_24hr}")
        print(f"12-Hour Format: {current_time_12hr}")
        print(f"Current Date: {current_date}")

Step 4: Execution Block

In the execution block, if __name__ == “__main__”:, the code ensures that the main() function runs only when the script is executed directly, allowing the continuous updates of the digital clock with a date to occur.

Python3

# main exectution block
if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Complete Code

Python3

import time
import os

# Function to clear the console screen
def clear_screen():
    os.system('cls' if os.name == 'nt' else 'clear')

# Main execution block
def main():
    while True:
        current_time_24hr = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
        current_time_12hr = time.strftime("%I:%M:%S %p")
        current_date = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d")

        # Clear the screen for a fresh update
        clear_screen()

        print(f"24-Hour Format: {current_time_24hr}")
        print(f"12-Hour Format: {current_time_12hr}")
        print(f"Current Date: {current_date}")

        # Pause for one second between updates
        time.sleep(1)

# Run the clock
if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Run the Program

python script_name.py

Output