How to get the current date and time in Python

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Here is an example of how to get the current date and time using the datetime module in Python:

import datetime

now = datetime.datetime.now()

print
print "Current date and time using str method of datetime object:"
print str(now)

print
print "Current date and time using instance attributes:"
print "Current year: %d" % now.year
print "Current month: %d" % now.month
print "Current day: %d" % now.day
print "Current hour: %d" % now.hour
print "Current minute: %d" % now.minute
print "Current second: %d" % now.second
print "Current microsecond: %d" % now.microsecond

print
print "Current date and time using strftime:"
print now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")

Results:

Current date and time using str method of datetime object:
2008-06-26 11:33:15.309236

Current date and time using instance attributes:
Current year: 2008
Current month: 6
Current day: 26
Current hour: 11
Current minute: 33
Current second: 15
Current microsecond: 309236

Current date and time using strftime:
2008-06-26 11:33

Directly from the time module documentation, here are more options to use with strftime:

Directive	Meaning	Notes
%a	Locale's abbreviated weekday name.
%A	Locale's full weekday name.
%b	Locale's abbreviated month name.
%B	Locale's full month name.
%c	Locale's appropriate date and time representation.
%d	Day of the month as a decimal number [01,31].
%H	Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number [00,23].
%I	Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number [01,12].
%j	Day of the year as a decimal number [001,366].
%m	Month as a decimal number [01,12].
%M	Minute as a decimal number [00,59].
%p	Locale's equivalent of either AM or PM.	(1)
%S	Second as a decimal number [00,61].	(2)
%U	Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53]. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0.	(3)
%w	Weekday as a decimal number [0(Sunday),6].
%W	Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number [00,53]. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0.	(3)
%x	Locale's appropriate date representation.
%X	Locale's appropriate time representation.
%y	Year without century as a decimal number [00,99].
%Y	Year with century as a decimal number.
%Z	Time zone name (no characters if no time zone exists).
%%	A literal "%" character.

See also:
   5.1.4 datetime Objects in the 5.1 datetime module of the Python Library Reference.