Arrow: better dates and times for Python¶

What?¶

Arrow is a Python library that offers a sensible, human-friendly approach to creating, manipulating, formatting and converting dates, times, and timestamps. It implements and updates the datetime type, plugging gaps in functionality, and provides an intelligent module API that supports many common creation scenarios. Simply put, it helps you work with dates and times with fewer imports and a lot less code.

Arrow is heavily inspired by moment.js and requests.

Why?¶

Python’s standard library and some other low-level modules have near-complete date, time and timezone functionality but don’t work very well from a usability perspective:

Too many modules: datetime, time, calendar, dateutil, pytz and more
Too many types: date, time, datetime, tzinfo, timedelta, relativedelta, etc.
Timezones and timestamp conversions are verbose and unpleasant
Timezone naivety is the norm
Gaps in functionality: ISO-8601 parsing, time spans, humanization

Features¶

Fully implemented, drop-in replacement for datetime
Supports Python 2.6, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5
Timezone-aware & UTC by default
Provides super-simple creation options for many common input scenarios
Updated .replace method with support for relative offsets, including weeks
Formats and parses strings automatically
Partial ISO-8601 support
Timezone conversion
Timestamp available as a property
Generates time spans, ranges, floors and ceilings in time frames from year to microsecond
Humanizes and supports a growing list of contributed locales
Extensible for your own Arrow-derived types

Quickstart¶

$ pip install arrow

>>> import arrow
>>> utc = arrow.utcnow()
>>> utc
<Arrow [2013-05-11T21:23:58.970460+00:00]>

>>> utc = utc.shift(hours=-1)
>>> utc
<Arrow [2013-05-11T20:23:58.970460+00:00]>

>>> local = utc.to('US/Pacific')
>>> local
<Arrow [2013-05-11T13:23:58.970460-07:00]>

>>> arrow.get('2013-05-11T21:23:58.970460+00:00')
<Arrow [2013-05-11T21:23:58.970460+00:00]>

>>> local.timestamp
1368303838

>>> local.format()
'2013-05-11 13:23:58 -07:00'

>>> local.format('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss ZZ')
'2013-05-11 13:23:58 -07:00'

>>> local.humanize()
'an hour ago'

>>> local.humanize(locale='ko_kr')
'1시간 전'

User’s Guide¶

Creation¶

Get ‘now’ easily:

>>> arrow.utcnow()
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:20:39.369271+00:00]>

>>> arrow.now()
<Arrow [2013-05-06T21:20:40.841085-07:00]>

>>> arrow.now('US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-06T21:20:44.761511-07:00]>

Create from timestamps (ints or floats, or strings that convert to a float):

>>> arrow.get(1367900664)
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:24:24+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get('1367900664')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:24:24+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get(1367900664.152325)
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:24:24.152325+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get('1367900664.152325')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:24:24.152325+00:00]>

Use a naive or timezone-aware datetime, or flexibly specify a timezone:

>>> arrow.get(datetime.utcnow())
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:24:24.152325+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get(datetime(2013, 5, 5), 'US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00-07:00]>

>>> from dateutil import tz
>>> arrow.get(datetime(2013, 5, 5), tz.gettz('US/Pacific'))
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00-07:00]>

>>> arrow.get(datetime.now(tz.gettz('US/Pacific')))
<Arrow [2013-05-06T21:24:49.552236-07:00]>

Parse from a string:

>>> arrow.get('2013-05-05 12:30:45', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss')
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:45+00:00]>

Search a date in a string:

>>> arrow.get('June was born in May 1980', 'MMMM YYYY')
<Arrow [1980-05-01T00:00:00+00:00]>

Some ISO-8601 compliant strings are recognized and parsed without a format string:

>>> arrow.get('2013-09-30T15:34:00.000-07:00')
<Arrow [2013-09-30T15:34:00-07:00]>

Arrow objects can be instantiated directly too, with the same arguments as a datetime:

>>> arrow.get(2013, 5, 5)
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00+00:00]>

>>> arrow.Arrow(2013, 5, 5)
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00+00:00]>

Properties¶

Get a datetime or timestamp representation:

>>> a = arrow.utcnow()
>>> a.datetime
datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 7, 4, 38, 15, 447644, tzinfo=tzutc())

>>> a.timestamp
1367901495

Get a naive datetime, and tzinfo:

>>> a.naive
datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 7, 4, 38, 15, 447644)

>>> a.tzinfo
tzutc()

Get any datetime value:

>>> a.year
2013

Call datetime functions that return properties:

>>> a.date()
datetime.date(2013, 5, 7)

>>> a.time()
datetime.time(4, 38, 15, 447644)

Replace & shift¶

Get a new Arrow object, with altered attributes, just as you would with a datetime:

>>> arw = arrow.utcnow()
>>> arw
<Arrow [2013-05-12T03:29:35.334214+00:00]>

>>> arw.replace(hour=4, minute=40)
<Arrow [2013-05-12T04:40:35.334214+00:00]>

Or, get one with attributes shifted forward or backward:

>>> arw.shift(weeks=+3)
<Arrow [2013-06-02T03:29:35.334214+00:00]>

Even replace the timezone without altering other attributes:

>>> arw.replace(tzinfo='US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-12T03:29:35.334214-07:00]>

Format¶

>>> arrow.utcnow().format('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss ZZ')
'2013-05-07 05:23:16 -00:00'

Convert¶

Convert to timezones by name or tzinfo:

>>> utc = arrow.utcnow()
>>> utc
<Arrow [2013-05-07T05:24:11.823627+00:00]>

>>> utc.to('US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-06T22:24:11.823627-07:00]>

>>> utc.to(tz.gettz('US/Pacific'))
<Arrow [2013-05-06T22:24:11.823627-07:00]>

Or using shorthand:

>>> utc.to('local')
<Arrow [2013-05-06T22:24:11.823627-07:00]>

>>> utc.to('local').to('utc')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T05:24:11.823627+00:00]>

Humanize¶

Humanize relative to now:

>>> past = arrow.utcnow().shift(hours=-1)
>>> past.humanize()
'an hour ago'

Or another Arrow, or datetime:

>>> present = arrow.utcnow()
>>> future = present.shift(hours=2)
>>> future.humanize(present)
'in 2 hours'

Support for a growing number of locales (see locales.py for supported languages):

>>> future = arrow.utcnow().shift(hours=1)
>>> future.humanize(a, locale='ru')
'через 2 час(а,ов)'

Ranges & spans¶

Get the time span of any unit:

>>> arrow.utcnow().span('hour')
(<Arrow [2013-05-07T05:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-07T05:59:59.999999+00:00]>)

Or just get the floor and ceiling:

>>> arrow.utcnow().floor('hour')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T05:00:00+00:00]>

>>> arrow.utcnow().ceil('hour')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T05:59:59.999999+00:00]>

You can also get a range of time spans:

>>> start = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30)
>>> end = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 17, 15)
>>> for r in arrow.Arrow.span_range('hour', start, end):
...     print r
...
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T12:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T13:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T13:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T14:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T14:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T15:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T15:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T16:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T16:59:59.999999+00:00]>)

Or just iterate over a range of time:

>>> start = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30)
>>> end = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 17, 15)
>>> for r in arrow.Arrow.range('hour', start, end):
...     print repr(r)
...
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T13:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T14:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T15:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T16:30:00+00:00]>

Factories¶

Use factories to harness Arrow’s module API for a custom Arrow-derived type. First, derive your type:

>>> class CustomArrow(arrow.Arrow):
...
...     def days_till_xmas(self):
...
...         xmas = arrow.Arrow(self.year, 12, 25)
...
...         if self > xmas:
...             xmas = xmas.shift(years=1)
...
...         return (xmas - self).days

Then get and use a factory for it:

>>> factory = arrow.ArrowFactory(CustomArrow)
>>> custom = factory.utcnow()
>>> custom
>>> <CustomArrow [2013-05-27T23:35:35.533160+00:00]>

>>> custom.days_till_xmas()
>>> 211

Tokens¶

Use the following tokens in parsing and formatting. Note that they’re not the same as the tokens for strptime(3):

	Token	Output
Year	YYYY	2000, 2001, 2002 ... 2012, 2013
	YY	00, 01, 02 ... 12, 13
Month	MMMM	January, February, March ... [1]
	MMM	Jan, Feb, Mar ... [1]
	MM	01, 02, 03 ... 11, 12
	M	1, 2, 3 ... 11, 12
Day of Year	DDDD	001, 002, 003 ... 364, 365
	DDD	1, 2, 3 ... 4, 5
Day of Month	DD	01, 02, 03 ... 30, 31
	D	1, 2, 3 ... 30, 31
	Do	1st, 2nd, 3rd ... 30th, 31st
Day of Week	dddd	Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ... [2]
	ddd	Mon, Tue, Wed ... [2]
	d	1, 2, 3 ... 6, 7
Hour	HH	00, 01, 02 ... 23, 24
	H	0, 1, 2 ... 23, 24
	hh	01, 02, 03 ... 11, 12
	h	1, 2, 3 ... 11, 12
AM / PM	A	AM, PM, am, pm [1]
	a	am, pm [1]
Minute	mm	00, 01, 02 ... 58, 59
	m	0, 1, 2 ... 58, 59
Second	ss	00, 01, 02 ... 58, 59
	s	0, 1, 2 ... 58, 59
Sub-second	S...	0, 02, 003, 000006, 123123123123... [3]
Timezone	ZZZ	Asia/Baku, Europe/Warsaw, GMT ... [4]
	ZZ	-07:00, -06:00 ... +06:00, +07:00
	Z	-0700, -0600 ... +0600, +0700
Timestamp	X	1381685817

Footnotes

[1]	(1, 2, 3, 4) localization support for parsing and formatting

[2]	(1, 2) localization support only for formatting

[3]	the result is truncated to microseconds, with half-to-even rounding.

[4]	timezone names from tz database provided via dateutil package

API Guide¶

arrow.arrow¶

Provides the Arrow class, an enhanced datetime replacement.

class arrow.arrow.Arrow(year, month, day, hour=0, minute=0, second=0, microsecond=0, tzinfo=None)¶

An Arrow object.

Implements the datetime interface, behaving as an aware datetime while implementing additional functionality.

Parameters:	year – the calendar year. month – the calendar month. day – the calendar day. hour – (optional) the hour. Defaults to 0. minute – (optional) the minute, Defaults to 0. second – (optional) the second, Defaults to 0. microsecond – (optional) the microsecond. Defaults 0. tzinfo – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to UTC.

Recognized timezone expressions:

A tzinfo object.

A str describing a timezone, similar to ‘US/Pacific’, or ‘Europe/Berlin’.

A str in ISO-8601 style, as in ‘+07:00’.

A str, one of the following: ‘local’, ‘utc’, ‘UTC’.

Usage:

>>> import arrow
>>> arrow.Arrow(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30, 45)
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:45+00:00]>

classmethod now(tzinfo=None)¶

Constructs an Arrow object, representing “now” in the given timezone.

Parameters:	tzinfo – (optional) a `tzinfo` object. Defaults to local time.

classmethod utcnow()¶: Constructs an Arrow object, representing “now” in UTC time.

classmethod fromtimestamp(timestamp, tzinfo=None)¶

Constructs an Arrow object from a timestamp, converted to the given timezone.

Parameters:	timestamp – an `int` or `float` timestamp, or a `str` that converts to either. tzinfo – (optional) a `tzinfo` object. Defaults to local time.

Timestamps should always be UTC. If you have a non-UTC timestamp:

>>> arrow.Arrow.utcfromtimestamp(1367900664).replace(tzinfo='US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T04:24:24-07:00]>

classmethod utcfromtimestamp(timestamp)¶

Constructs an Arrow object from a timestamp, in UTC time.

Parameters:	timestamp – an `int` or `float` timestamp, or a `str` that converts to either.

classmethod fromdatetime(dt, tzinfo=None)¶

Constructs an Arrow object from a datetime and optional replacement timezone.

Parameters:	dt – the `datetime` tzinfo – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to `dt`‘s timezone, or UTC if naive.

If you only want to replace the timezone of naive datetimes:

>>> dt
datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 5, 0, 0, tzinfo=tzutc())
>>> arrow.Arrow.fromdatetime(dt, dt.tzinfo or 'US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00+00:00]>

classmethod fromdate(date, tzinfo=None)¶

Constructs an Arrow object from a date and optional replacement timezone. Time values are set to 0.

Parameters:	date – the `date` tzinfo – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to UTC.

classmethod strptime(date_str, fmt, tzinfo=None)¶

Constructs an Arrow object from a date string and format, in the style of datetime.strptime. Optionally replaces the parsed timezone.

Parameters:	date_str – the date string. fmt – the format string. tzinfo – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to the parsed timezone if `fmt` contains a timezone directive, otherwise UTC.

classmethod range(frame, start, end=None, tz=None, limit=None)¶

Returns a list of Arrow objects, representing an iteration of time between two inputs.

Parameters:	frame – the timeframe. Can be any `datetime` property (day, hour, minute...). start – A datetime expression, the start of the range. end – (optional) A datetime expression, the end of the range. tz – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to `start`‘s timezone, or UTC if `start` is naive. limit – (optional) A maximum number of tuples to return.

NOTE: The end or limit must be provided. Call with end alone to return the entire range. Call with limit alone to return a maximum # of results from the start. Call with both to cap a range at a maximum # of results.

NOTE: tz internally replaces the timezones of both start and end before iterating. As such, either call with naive objects and tz, or aware objects from the same timezone and no tz.

Supported frame values: year, quarter, month, week, day, hour, minute, second.

Recognized datetime expressions:

An Arrow object.

A datetime object.

Usage:

>>> start = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30)
>>> end = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 17, 15)
>>> for r in arrow.Arrow.range('hour', start, end):
...     print(repr(r))
...
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T13:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T14:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T15:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T16:30:00+00:00]>

NOTE: Unlike Python’s range, end may be included in the returned list:

>>> start = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30)
>>> end = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 13, 30)
>>> for r in arrow.Arrow.range('hour', start, end):
...     print(repr(r))
...
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:00+00:00]>
<Arrow [2013-05-05T13:30:00+00:00]>

classmethod span_range(frame, start, end, tz=None, limit=None)¶

Returns a list of tuples, each Arrow objects, representing a series of timespans between two inputs.

Parameters:	frame – the timeframe. Can be any `datetime` property (day, hour, minute...). start – A datetime expression, the start of the range. end – (optional) A datetime expression, the end of the range. tz – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to `start`‘s timezone, or UTC if `start` is naive. limit – (optional) A maximum number of tuples to return.

NOTE: The end or limit must be provided. Call with end alone to return the entire range. Call with limit alone to return a maximum # of results from the start. Call with both to cap a range at a maximum # of results.

NOTE: tz internally replaces the timezones of both start and end before iterating. As such, either call with naive objects and tz, or aware objects from the same timezone and no tz.

Supported frame values: year, quarter, month, week, day, hour, minute, second.

Recognized datetime expressions:

An Arrow object.

A datetime object.

NOTE: Unlike Python’s range, end will always be included in the returned list of timespans.

Usage:

>>> start = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30)
>>> end = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 17, 15)
>>> for r in arrow.Arrow.span_range('hour', start, end):
...     print(r)
...
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T12:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T13:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T13:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T14:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T14:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T15:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T15:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T16:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T16:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T17:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T17:59:59.999999+00:00]>)

classmethod interval(frame, start, end, interval=1, tz=None)¶

Returns an array of tuples, each Arrow objects, representing a series of intervals between two inputs.

Parameters:	frame – the timeframe. Can be any `datetime` property (day, hour, minute...). start – A datetime expression, the start of the range. end – (optional) A datetime expression, the end of the range. interval – (optional) Time interval for the given time frame. tz – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to UTC.

Supported frame values: year, quarter, month, week, day, hour, minute, second

Recognized datetime expressions:

An Arrow object.

A datetime object.

Recognized timezone expressions:

A tzinfo object.

A str describing a timezone, similar to ‘US/Pacific’, or ‘Europe/Berlin’.

A str in ISO-8601 style, as in ‘+07:00’.

A str, one of the following: ‘local’, ‘utc’, ‘UTC’.

Usage:

>>> start = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30)
>>> end = datetime(2013, 5, 5, 17, 15)
>>> for r in arrow.Arrow.interval('hour', start, end, 2):
...     print r
...
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T13:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T14:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T15:59:59.999999+00:00]>)
(<Arrow [2013-05-05T16:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-05T17:59:59.999999+00:0]>)

tzinfo¶: Gets the tzinfo of the Arrow object.

datetime¶: Returns a datetime representation of the Arrow object.

naive¶: Returns a naive datetime representation of the Arrow object.

timestamp¶: Returns a timestamp representation of the Arrow object, in UTC time.

float_timestamp¶: Returns a floating-point representation of the Arrow object, in UTC time.

clone()¶

Returns a new Arrow object, cloned from the current one.

Usage:

>>> arw = arrow.utcnow()
>>> cloned = arw.clone()

replace(**kwargs)¶

Returns a new Arrow object with attributes updated according to inputs.

Use property names to set their value absolutely:

>>> import arrow
>>> arw = arrow.utcnow()
>>> arw
<Arrow [2013-05-11T22:27:34.787885+00:00]>
>>> arw.replace(year=2014, month=6)
<Arrow [2014-06-11T22:27:34.787885+00:00]>

You can also replace the timezone without conversion, using a timezone expression:

>>> arw.replace(tzinfo=tz.tzlocal())
<Arrow [2013-05-11T22:27:34.787885-07:00]>

shift(**kwargs)¶

Returns a new Arrow object with attributes updated according to inputs.

Use pluralized property names to shift their current value relatively:

>>> import arrow
>>> arw = arrow.utcnow()
>>> arw
<Arrow [2013-05-11T22:27:34.787885+00:00]>
>>> arw.shift(years=1, months=-1)
<Arrow [2014-04-11T22:27:34.787885+00:00]>

Day-of-the-week relative shifting can use either Python’s weekday numbers (Monday = 0, Tuesday = 1 .. Sunday = 6) or using dateutil.relativedelta’s day instances (MO, TU .. SU). When using weekday numbers, the returned date will always be greater than or equal to the starting date.

Using the above code (which is a Saturday) and asking it to shift to Saturday:

>>> arw.shift(weekday=5)
<Arrow [2013-05-11T22:27:34.787885+00:00]>

While asking for a Monday:

>>> arw.shift(weekday=0)
<Arrow [2013-05-13T22:27:34.787885+00:00]>

to(tz)¶

Returns a new Arrow object, converted to the target timezone.

Parameters:	tz – A timezone expression.

Usage:

>>> utc = arrow.utcnow()
>>> utc
<Arrow [2013-05-09T03:49:12.311072+00:00]>

>>> utc.to('US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-08T20:49:12.311072-07:00]>

>>> utc.to(tz.tzlocal())
<Arrow [2013-05-08T20:49:12.311072-07:00]>

>>> utc.to('-07:00')
<Arrow [2013-05-08T20:49:12.311072-07:00]>

>>> utc.to('local')
<Arrow [2013-05-08T20:49:12.311072-07:00]>

>>> utc.to('local').to('utc')
<Arrow [2013-05-09T03:49:12.311072+00:00]>

span(frame, count=1)¶

Returns two new Arrow objects, representing the timespan of the Arrow object in a given timeframe.

Parameters:	frame – the timeframe. Can be any `datetime` property (day, hour, minute...). count – (optional) the number of frames to span.

Supported frame values: year, quarter, month, week, day, hour, minute, second.

Usage:

>>> arrow.utcnow()
<Arrow [2013-05-09T03:32:36.186203+00:00]>

>>> arrow.utcnow().span('hour')
(<Arrow [2013-05-09T03:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-09T03:59:59.999999+00:00]>)

>>> arrow.utcnow().span('day')
(<Arrow [2013-05-09T00:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-09T23:59:59.999999+00:00]>)

>>> arrow.utcnow().span('day', count=2)
(<Arrow [2013-05-09T00:00:00+00:00]>, <Arrow [2013-05-10T23:59:59.999999+00:00]>)

floor(frame)¶

Returns a new Arrow object, representing the “floor” of the timespan of the Arrow object in a given timeframe. Equivalent to the first element in the 2-tuple returned by span.

Parameters:	frame – the timeframe. Can be any `datetime` property (day, hour, minute...).

Usage:

>>> arrow.utcnow().floor('hour')
<Arrow [2013-05-09T03:00:00+00:00]>

ceil(frame)¶

Returns a new Arrow object, representing the “ceiling” of the timespan of the Arrow object in a given timeframe. Equivalent to the second element in the 2-tuple returned by span.

Parameters:	frame – the timeframe. Can be any `datetime` property (day, hour, minute...).

Usage:

>>> arrow.utcnow().ceil('hour')
<Arrow [2013-05-09T03:59:59.999999+00:00]>

format(fmt='YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ssZZ', locale='en_us')¶

Returns a string representation of the Arrow object, formatted according to a format string.

Parameters:	fmt – the format string.

Usage:

>>> arrow.utcnow().format('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss ZZ')
'2013-05-09 03:56:47 -00:00'

>>> arrow.utcnow().format('X')
'1368071882'

>>> arrow.utcnow().format('MMMM DD, YYYY')
'May 09, 2013'

>>> arrow.utcnow().format()
'2013-05-09 03:56:47 -00:00'

humanize(other=None, locale='en_us', only_distance=False, granularity='auto')¶

Returns a localized, humanized representation of a relative difference in time.

Parameters:

other – (optional) an Arrow or datetime object. Defaults to now in the current Arrow object’s timezone.
locale – (optional) a str specifying a locale. Defaults to ‘en_us’.
only_distance – (optional) returns only time difference eg: “11 seconds” without “in” or “ago” part.
granularity – (optional) defines the precision of the output. Set it to strings ‘second’, ‘minute’, ‘hour’, ‘day’, ‘month’ or ‘year’.

Usage:

>>> earlier = arrow.utcnow().shift(hours=-2)
>>> earlier.humanize()
'2 hours ago'

>>> later = later = earlier.shift(hours=4)
>>> later.humanize(earlier)
'in 4 hours'

date()¶: Returns a date object with the same year, month and day.

time()¶: Returns a time object with the same hour, minute, second, microsecond.

timetz()¶: Returns a time object with the same hour, minute, second, microsecond and tzinfo.

astimezone(tz)¶

Returns a datetime object, converted to the specified timezone.

Parameters:	tz – a `tzinfo` object.

utcoffset()¶: Returns a timedelta object representing the whole number of minutes difference from UTC time.

dst()¶: Returns the daylight savings time adjustment.

timetuple()¶: Returns a time.struct_time, in the current timezone.

utctimetuple()¶: Returns a time.struct_time, in UTC time.

toordinal()¶: Returns the proleptic Gregorian ordinal of the date.

weekday()¶: Returns the day of the week as an integer (0-6).

isoweekday()¶: Returns the ISO day of the week as an integer (1-7).

isocalendar()¶: Returns a 3-tuple, (ISO year, ISO week number, ISO weekday).

isoformat(sep='T')¶: Returns an ISO 8601 formatted representation of the date and time.

ctime()¶: Returns a ctime formatted representation of the date and time.

strftime(format)¶

Formats in the style of datetime.strptime.

Parameters:	format – the format string.

for_json()¶: Serializes for the for_json protocol of simplejson.

arrow.factory¶

Implements the ArrowFactory class, providing factory methods for common Arrow construction scenarios.

class arrow.factory.ArrowFactory(type=<class 'arrow.arrow.Arrow'>)¶

A factory for generating Arrow objects.

Parameters:	type – (optional) the `Arrow`-based class to construct from. Defaults to `Arrow`.

get(*args, **kwargs)¶

Returns an Arrow object based on flexible inputs.

Parameters:	locale – (optional) a `str` specifying a locale for the parser. Defaults to ‘en_us’. tzinfo – (optional) a timezone expression or tzinfo object. Replaces the timezone unless using an input form that is explicitly UTC or specifies the timezone in a positional argument. Defaults to UTC.

Usage:

>>> import arrow

No inputs to get current UTC time:

>>> arrow.get()
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:51:43.316458+00:00]>

None to also get current UTC time:

>>> arrow.get(None)
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:51:49.016458+00:00]>

One Arrow object, to get a copy.

>>> arw = arrow.utcnow()
>>> arrow.get(arw)
<Arrow [2013-10-23T15:21:54.354846+00:00]>

One str, float, or int, convertible to a floating-point timestamp, to get that timestamp in UTC:

>>> arrow.get(1367992474.293378)
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:54:34.293378+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get(1367992474)
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:54:34+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get('1367992474.293378')
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:54:34.293378+00:00]>

>>> arrow.get('1367992474')
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:54:34+00:00]>

One ISO-8601-formatted str, to parse it:

>>> arrow.get('2013-09-29T01:26:43.830580')
<Arrow [2013-09-29T01:26:43.830580+00:00]>

One tzinfo, to get the current time converted to that timezone:

>>> arrow.get(tz.tzlocal())
<Arrow [2013-05-07T22:57:28.484717-07:00]>

One naive datetime, to get that datetime in UTC:

>>> arrow.get(datetime(2013, 5, 5))
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00+00:00]>

One aware datetime, to get that datetime:

>>> arrow.get(datetime(2013, 5, 5, tzinfo=tz.tzlocal()))
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00-07:00]>

One naive date, to get that date in UTC:

>>> arrow.get(date(2013, 5, 5))
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00+00:00]>

Two arguments, a naive or aware datetime, and a replacement timezone expression:

>>> arrow.get(datetime(2013, 5, 5), 'US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00-07:00]>

Two arguments, a naive date, and a replacement timezone expression:

>>> arrow.get(date(2013, 5, 5), 'US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-05T00:00:00-07:00]>

Two arguments, both str, to parse the first according to the format of the second:

>>> arrow.get('2013-05-05 12:30:45', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss')
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:45+00:00]>

Two arguments, first a str to parse and second a list of formats to try:

>>> arrow.get('2013-05-05 12:30:45', ['MM/DD/YYYY', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss'])
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:45+00:00]>

Three or more arguments, as for the constructor of a datetime:

>>> arrow.get(2013, 5, 5, 12, 30, 45)
<Arrow [2013-05-05T12:30:45+00:00]>

One time.struct time:

>>> arrow.get(gmtime(0))
<Arrow [1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00]>

utcnow()¶

Returns an Arrow object, representing “now” in UTC time.

Usage:

>>> import arrow
>>> arrow.utcnow()
<Arrow [2013-05-08T05:19:07.018993+00:00]>

now(tz=None)¶

Returns an Arrow object, representing “now” in the given timezone.

Parameters:	tz – (optional) A timezone expression. Defaults to local time.

Usage:

>>> import arrow
>>> arrow.now()
<Arrow [2013-05-07T22:19:11.363410-07:00]>

>>> arrow.now('US/Pacific')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T22:19:15.251821-07:00]>

>>> arrow.now('+02:00')
<Arrow [2013-05-08T07:19:25.618646+02:00]>

>>> arrow.now('local')
<Arrow [2013-05-07T22:19:39.130059-07:00]>

arrow.api¶

Provides the default implementation of ArrowFactory methods for use as a module API.

arrow.api.get(*args, **kwargs)¶: Calls the default ArrowFactory get method.

arrow.api.utcnow()¶: Calls the default ArrowFactory utcnow method.

arrow.api.now(tz=None)¶: Calls the default ArrowFactory now method.

arrow.api.factory(type)¶

Returns an ArrowFactory for the specified Arrow or derived type.

Parameters:	type – the type, `Arrow` or derived.

arrow.locale¶

arrow.locales.get_locale(name)¶

Returns an appropriate Locale corresponding to an inpute locale name.

Parameters:	name – the name of the locale.

class arrow.locales.Locale¶

Represents locale-specific data and functionality.

describe(timeframe, delta=0, only_distance=False)¶

Describes a delta within a timeframe in plain language.

Parameters:	timeframe – a string representing a timeframe. delta – a quantity representing a delta in a timeframe. only_distance – return only distance eg: “11 seconds” without “in” or “ago” keywords

day_name(day)¶

Returns the day name for a specified day of the week.

Parameters:	day – the `int` day of the week (1-7).

day_abbreviation(day)¶

Returns the day abbreviation for a specified day of the week.

Parameters:	day – the `int` day of the week (1-7).

month_name(month)¶

Returns the month name for a specified month of the year.

Parameters:	month – the `int` month of the year (1-12).

month_abbreviation(month)¶

Returns the month abbreviation for a specified month of the year.

Parameters:	month – the `int` month of the year (1-12).

month_number(name)¶

Returns the month number for a month specified by name or abbreviation.

Parameters:	name – the month name or abbreviation.

year_full(year)¶

Returns the year for specific locale if available

Parameters:	name – the `int` year (4-digit)

year_abbreviation(year)¶

Returns the year for specific locale if available

Parameters:	name – the `int` year (4-digit)

meridian(hour, token)¶

Returns the meridian indicator for a specified hour and format token.

Parameters:	hour – the `int` hour of the day. token – the format token.

ordinal_number(n)¶

Returns the ordinal format of a given integer

Parameters:	n – an integer

github.com/crsmithdev/arrow

Table Of Contents

Arrow: better dates and times for Python¶

What?¶

Why?¶

Features¶

Quickstart¶

User’s Guide¶

Creation¶

Properties¶

Replace & shift¶

Format¶

Convert¶

Humanize¶

Ranges & spans¶

Factories¶

Tokens¶

API Guide¶

arrow.arrow¶

arrow.factory¶

arrow.api¶

arrow.locale¶