How to Convert Timestamps with Timezone Offsets to DateTime Objects in Python?

Convert Timestamps with Offset to Datetime Objects Using strptime

Problem

Converting timestamps of the format "2012-07-24T23:14:29-07:00" to datetime objects using strptime() can be problematic due to the time offset at the end (-07:00). Without the offset, it's possible to use strptime() as follows:

time_str = "2012-07-24T23:14:29"
time_obj = datetime.datetime.strptime(time_str, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S')

However, using the provided time offset results in a ValueError due to the 'z' directive not being supported.

Workarounds

There are two primary workarounds:

1. Ignore the Timezone Using strptime():

Remove the timezone portion from the timestamp before parsing:

time_obj = datetime.datetime.strptime(time_str[:19], '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S')

2. Use dateutil.parser:

The dateutil module offers a parse function that supports timezones:

from dateutil.parser import parse
time_obj = parse(time_str)

Python 3.2 and Newer

For Python versions 3.2 and above, timezone support has been enhanced. %z will function after adjusting the format string as follows:

• Remove the last colon from the format string.
• Remove the '-' before the %z specifier.

time_obj = datetime.datetime.strptime(time_str, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')

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