Get Current time in Python

In this article, we will know the approaches to get the current time in Python. There are multiple ways to get it. The most preferably date-time module is used in Python to create the object containing date and time. DateTime object in Python is used to manage operations involving time-based data.

• datetime.now(): This method returns a DateTime object representing the exact moment the code is executed.
• strftime() Method: This method is used to format the datetime object into a string in a specific format.

from datetime import datetime

# now() method is used to get object
# containing current date & time.
now = datetime.now()

# strftime() method used to create a string
# representing the current time.
currentTime = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
print("Current Time =", currentTime)

Current Time = 06:20:18

Using time module

The time module helps to get time-related functions and it is well-suited for time manipulation.

• time.localtime(): Converts the current time (in seconds) to a struct_time object in the local timezone.
• time.strftime(format, t): Formats the time (given as a struct_time) into a string according to the specified format.

import time


# localtime() method used to get the object containing the local time.
t = time.localtime()

# strftime() method used to create a string representing the current time.
currentTime = t.strftime("%H:%M:%S", t)
print(currentTime)

06:22:49

Get Time in a Specific Time Zone

To get a current time in a specific time zone, we can use time module combined with datetime.now and strftime() methods.

• pytz.timezone: This defines the India Standard Time (IST) time zone. This helps to get the correct time in the India Standard Time zone.

from datetime import datetime
import pytz

# Define the timezone for India
tz_india = pytz.timezone('Asia/Kolkata')

# Get the current time in India time zone
datetime_india = datetime.now(tz_india)
print("India Time:", datetime_india.strftime("%H:%M:%S"))

India Time: 11:54:39