Date Format YYYYMMDD in Python

In Python, we can easily format dates and datetime objects with the strftime() function. For example, to format a date as YYYY-MM-DD, pass “%Y-%m-%d” to strftime().

import datetime 

currentDate = datetime.date.today()

print(currentDate.strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))

#Output:
2022-03-12

If you want to create a string that is separated by slashes (“/”) instead of dashes (“-“), pass “%Y/%m/%d” to strftime().

import datetime 

currentDate = datetime.date.today()

print(currentDate.strftime("%Y/%m/%d"))

#Output:
2022/03/12

When working in Python, many times we need to create variables which represent dates and times. When creating and displaying values related to dates, sometimes we need to display the current date in a particular format.

The Python strftime() function is very useful when working with date and datetime variables. strftime() accepts a string representing the format of a date and returns the date as a string in the given format.

We can use strftime() to easily format a date using codes for the day, month or year.

For example, if we want to format a date in the format yyyymmdd, we can do so by passing “%Y” for year, “%m” for month, and “%d” for day to strftime() in the order you want.

Below is a simple example of how to format and print a date with the format yyyy-mm-dd in Python with strftime().

import datetime 

currentDate = datetime.date.today()

print(currentDate.strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))

#Output:
2022-03-12

How to Change Date Formats in Python with strftime()

We can use strftime() to format dates and change the date format easily of a date or datetime object.

For example, if you want to change the date format to MM/DD/YYYY, you can pass “%m/%d/%Y” to strftime().

import datetime 

currentDate = datetime.date.today()

print(currentDate.strftime("%m/%d/%Y"))

#Output:
03/12/2022

Another useful code for formatting dates is the month name code “%B”. “%B” gets the month name of a date.

We can format a date like “Month Name DD, YYYY” easily by passing “%B %d, %Y” to strftime().

import datetime 

currentDate = datetime.date.today()

print(currentDate.strftime("%B %d, %Y"))

#Output:
March 12, 2022

Hopefully this article has been useful for you to learn how to learn how to format dates in Python with strftime().