How can I compare a date and a datetime in Python?

Question

Here's a little snippet that I'm trying execute:

>>> from datetime import * >>> item_date = datetime.strptime('7/16/10', "%m/%d/%y") >>> from_date = date.today()-timedelta(days=3) >>> print type(item_date) <type 'datetime.datetime'> >>> print type(from_date) <type 'datetime.date'> >>> if item_date > from_date: ...     print 'item is newer' ... Traceback (most recent call last):   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: can't compare datetime.datetime to datetime.date 

I can't seem to compare the date and the datetime values. What would be the best way to compare these? Should I convert the datetime to date or vice-versa? How do i convert between them.

(A small question but it seems to be a little confusing.)

Answer 1

Use the .date() method to convert a datetime to a date:

if item_date.date() > from_date: 

Alternatively, you could use datetime.today() instead of date.today(). You could use

from_date = from_date.replace(hour=0, minute=0, second=0, microsecond=0) 

to eliminate the time part afterwards.

Answer 2

I am trying to compare date which are in string format like '20110930'

benchMark = datetime.datetime.strptime('20110701', "%Y%m%d")   actualDate = datetime.datetime.strptime('20110930', "%Y%m%d")  if actualDate.date() < benchMark.date():     print True