How to Parse Timestamps with Time Zone Abbreviations in Python

Parsing Date/Time Strings with Abbreviated Time Zone Names in Python

Parsing timestamp strings that include abbreviated time zone names poses a challenge in Python. Despite its capabilities, dateutil's parse() function does not automatically handle time zone abbreviations.

To address this, we can leverage dateutil's parser.parse() function, which accepts a tzinfos keyword argument. This argument expects a dictionary that maps abbreviated time zone names to their corresponding GMT offsets in seconds.

To populate this dictionary, we can manually create a mapping of common time zones and their offsets. Here's an example:

<code class="python">tzd = {
    "PST": -8 * 3600,  # Pacific Standard Time
    "PDT": -7 * 3600,  # Pacific Daylight Time
    # ... other time zones
}</code>

With this dictionary, we can parse a timestamp string with an abbreviated time zone as follows:

<code class="python">import dateutil.parser as dp
s = "Sat, 11/01/09 8:00PM EST"
dt = dp.parse(s, tzinfos=tzd)

# Result:
# <datetime.datetime object at 0x7fb44dbafb90>
print(dt)

# Output:
# 2009-11-01 20:00:00-05:00</code>

Using this approach, we can account for abbreviated time zone names and accurately parse timestamp strings in different time zones.

Note: Time zone naming conventions can vary, and some abbreviations may be ambiguous. Therefore, it's essential to consider the context when using this method to avoid potential inaccuracies.

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