Python/Pandas convert string to time only

Question

I have the following Pandas dataframe in Python 2.7.

import pandas as pd trial_num = [1,2,3,4,5] sail_rem_time = ['11:33:11','16:29:05','09:37:56','21:43:31','17:42:06'] dfc = pd.DataFrame(zip(*[trial_num,sail_rem_time]),columns=['Temp_Reading','Time_of_Sail']) print dfc 

The dataframe looks like this:

  Temp_Reading Time_of_Sail              1     11:33:11              2     16:29:05              3     09:37:56              4     21:43:31              5     17:42:06 

This dataframe comes from a *.csv file. I use Pandas to read in the *.csv file as a Pandas dataframe. When I use print dfc.dtypes, it shows me that the column Time_of_Sail has a datatype object. I would like to convert this column to datetime datatype BUT I only want the time part - I don't want the year, month, date.

I can try this:

dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = pd.to_datetime(dfc['Time_of_Sail']) dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = [time.time() for time in dfc['Time_of_Sail']] 

but the problem is that the when I run print dfc.dtypes it still shows that the column Time_of_Sail is object.

Is there a way to convert this column into a datetime format that only has the time?

Additional Information:

To create the above dataframe and output, this also works:

import pandas as pd trial_num = [1,2,3,4,5] sail_rem_time = ['11:33:11','16:29:05','09:37:56','21:43:31','17:42:06'] data = [     [trial_num[0],sail_rem_time[0]],     [trial_num[1],sail_rem_time[1]],[trial_num[2],sail_rem_time[2]],     [trial_num[3],sail_rem_time[3]]     ] dfc = pd.DataFrame(data,columns=['Temp_Reading','Time_of_Sail']) dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = pd.to_datetime(dfc['Time_of_Sail']) dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = [time.time() for time in dfc['Time_of_Sail']] print dfc print dfc.dtypes 

Answer 1

These two lines:

dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = pd.to_datetime(dfc['Time_of_Sail']) dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = [time.time() for time in dfc['Time_of_Sail']] 

Can be written as:

dfc['Time_of_Sail'] = pd.to_datetime(dfc['Time_of_Sail'],format= '%H:%M:%S' ).dt.time