Get Current Time in Python: A Quick and Easy Guide

Getting the current time in Python can be achieved through various methods, depending on the level of precision and the format required. Python's standard library offers several modules, including time, datetime, and calendar, which can be used to retrieve and manipulate time-related data. In this article, we will focus on using the datetime and time modules to get the current time.

The datetime module provides classes for manipulating dates and times in both simple and complex ways. It offers a higher-level interface compared to the time module, making it more convenient for many applications. On the other hand, the time module provides various time-related functions and is useful for getting the current system time.

Using the datetime Module

To get the current date and time using the datetime module, you can use the now() function from the datetime class.

from datetime import datetime

# Get the current date and time
current_datetime = datetime.now()
print(current_datetime)

This will output the current date and time in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.ssssss. If you want to get only the current time, you can use the time() function from the datetime class.

from datetime import datetime

# Get the current time
current_time = datetime.now().time()
print(current_time)

Formatting the Current Time

You can format the current time using the strftime() method, which converts a datetime object to a string in a specific format.

from datetime import datetime

# Get the current date and time
current_datetime = datetime.now()

# Format the current time
formatted_time = current_datetime.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
print(formatted_time)

In this example, %H:%M:%S is the format code for the 24-hour clock time. You can use various format codes to get the desired output.

Using the time Module

The time module provides the localtime() function, which returns a struct_time object representing the current local time.

import time

# Get the current local time
current_time = time.localtime()
print(current_time)

You can use the asctime() function to convert the struct_time object to a string in a specific format.

import time

# Get the current local time as a string
current_time_str = time.asctime()
print(current_time_str)

Getting the Current Time in Milliseconds

To get the current time in milliseconds, you can use the time() function from the time module, which returns the current system time in seconds since the epoch (January 1, 1970).

import time

# Get the current time in milliseconds
current_time_ms = int(time.time() * 1000)
print(current_time_ms)

from datetime import datetime
import pytz



timezone = pytz.timezone(‘US/Pacific’)



current_time = datetime.now(timezone)
print(current_time)