python getting date from string

Question

I have a dataset with non-static date structure

Such as

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 13:13:12 +0000 (UTC)
Mon, 26 Mar 2018 06:32:59 +0100
Tue, 05 Dec 2017 11:03:34 GMT
08 Dec 2016 12:00:24

How to get the day, (hour+offset) and minute from a string like that without manual code using regex.

Answer 1

Using timestring:

import timestring

dt_1 = "Fri, 13 Apr 2018 13:13:12 +0000 (UTC)"
dt_2 = "Mon, 26 Mar 2018 06:32:59 +0100"
dt_3 = "Tue, 05 Dec 2017 11:03:34 GMT"
dt_4 = "08 Dec 2016 12:00:24"

print(timestring.Date(dt_1))
print(timestring.Date(dt_2))
print(timestring.Date(dt_3))
print(timestring.Date(dt_4))

EDIT:

While I was at it, here is another cooler method:

Using dparser:

import dateutil.parser as dparser

dt_1 = "Fri, 13 Apr 2018 13:13:12 +0000 (UTC)"
dt_2 = "Mon, 26 Mar 2018 06:32:59 +0100"
dt_3 = "Tue, 05 Dec 2017 11:03:34 GMT"
dt_4 = "08 Dec 2016 12:00:24"


print(dparser.parse(dt_1,fuzzy=True))
print(dparser.parse(dt_2,fuzzy=True))
print(dparser.parse(dt_3,fuzzy=True))
print(dparser.parse(dt_4,fuzzy=True))

OUTPUT:

2018-04-13 13:13:12+00:00
2018-03-26 06:32:59+01:00
2017-12-05 11:03:34+00:00
2016-12-08 12:00:24

EDIT 2:

Why is dparser cooler?

Invalid dates raise a ValueError:

invalid_dt = "Fri, 35 Apr 2018 13:13:12 +0000 (UTC)"
print(dparser.parse(invalid_dt,fuzzy=True))

OUTPUT:

ValueError: day is out of range for month

EDIT 3:

To get the day, month, year, hour, minute or second:

print(dparser.parse(dt_1,fuzzy=True).day)     # 13
print(dparser.parse(dt_2,fuzzy=True).month)   # 3
print(dparser.parse(dt_3,fuzzy=True).year)    # 2017
print(dparser.parse(dt_4,fuzzy=True).hour)    # 12
print(dparser.parse(dt_4,fuzzy=True).minute)  # 0
print(dparser.parse(dt_4,fuzzy=True).second)  # 24

EDIT 4:

If you want to get the name of the Day:

print(datetime.date(dparser.parse(dt_1,fuzzy=True)).strftime("%a"))  # Fri