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New in version 2.3.
The datetime module supplies classes for manipulating dates and
times in both simple and complex ways. While date and time arithmetic is supported, the focus
of the implementation is on efficient member extraction for output formatting and
manipulation.
There are two kinds of date and time objects: ``naive'' and ``aware''. This distinction
refers to whether the object has any notion of time zone, daylight saving time, or other kind
of algorithmic or political time adjustment. Whether a naive datetime
object represents Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), local time, or time in some other timezone
is purely up to the program, just like it's up to the program whether a particular number
represents meters, miles, or mass. Naive datetime objects are easy to
understand and to work with, at the cost of ignoring some aspects of reality.
For applications requiring more, datetime and time
objects have an optional time zone information member, tzinfo, that
can contain an instance of a subclass of the abstract tzinfo class.
These tzinfo objects capture information about the offset from UTC
time, the time zone name, and whether Daylight Saving Time is in effect. Note that no concrete
tzinfo classes are supplied by the datetime
module. Supporting timezones at whatever level of detail is required is up to the application.
The rules for time adjustment across the world are more political than rational, and there is
no standard suitable for every application.
The datetime module exports the following constants:
- MINYEAR
- The smallest year number allowed in a date or datetime
object. MINYEAR is
1.
- MAXYEAR
- The largest year number allowed in a date or datetime
object. MAXYEAR is
9999.
See Also:
- Module calendar:
- General calendar related functions.
- Module time:
- Time access and conversions.
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