How to convert timestamp string to datetime object in Python?

Python has a module named Datetime to work with dates and times. We did not need to install it separately. It is pre-installed with the Python package itself. A UNIX timestamp is several seconds between a particular date and January 1, 1970, at UTC.

Input: "2023-07-21 10:30:45"
Output: 2023-07-21 10:30:45
Explanation: In This, We are converting a timestamp string to a datetime object in Python.

Python Timestamp String to Datetime Object

Here are different methods to convert timestamp strings to datetime objects.

• Using strptime()
• Using datetime.strptime()
• Using dateutil.parser.parse()
• Using datetime.from timestamp()

Python timestamp to Datetime using strptime()

The strftime() function is used to convert date and time objects to their string representation. It takes one or more inputs of formatted code and returns the string representation.

Python3

from datetime import datetime

timestamp_string = "2023-07-21 15:30:45"
format_string = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
datetime_object = datetime.strptime(timestamp_string, format_string)
print(datetime_object)

Output

2023-07-17  11:30:45

Python timestamp string to Datetime using datetime.strptime()

To get a DateTime in a particular form you can use strftime() function. You can simply use the form timestamp function from the Datetime module to get a date from a UNIX timestamp. This function takes the timestamp as input and returns the corresponding Datetime object to the timestamp.

Python3

from datetime import datetime


timestamp = 1545730073
dt_obj = datetime.fromtimestamp(1140825600)

print("date_time:",dt_obj)
print("type of dt:",type(dt_obj))

Output

date_time: 2006-02-25 05:30:00
type of dt_obj: <class 'datetime.datetime'>

Python timestamp to Datetime using dateutil.parser.parse()

Here is an example of using Python’s the .parser.parse() . This function is a powerful and flexible tool for converting various date and time representations, including timestamps, to datetime objects. It is part of the Dateutil library.

Python3

from dateutil.parser import parse

timestamp_string = "2023-07-17  11:30:45"

datetime_object = parse(timestamp_string)
print(datetime_object)

Output

2023-07-17  11:30:45

Python timestamp to Datetime using Datetime.from timestamp()

Here, we have imported the Datetime class from the an Datetime module. Then we have used datetime.fromtimestamp() method returns a datetime an object representing the datetime corresponding to the given timestamp. 

Python3

import datetime

timestamp = 1690433696

# Convert timestamp to datetime object
dt_object = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

print(dt_object)

Output

2023-07-27 04:54:56