/dateparser

python parser for human readable dates

Primary LanguagePythonBSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" LicenseBSD-3-Clause

dateparser -- python parser for human readable dates

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dateparser provides modules to easily parse localized dates in almost any string formats commonly found on web pages.

Documentation

Documentation is built automatically and can be found on Read the Docs.

Features

  • Generic parsing of dates in over 200 language locales plus numerous formats in a language agnostic fashion.
  • Generic parsing of relative dates like: '1 min ago', '2 weeks ago', '3 months, 1 week and 1 day ago', 'in 2 days', 'tomorrow'.
  • Generic parsing of dates with time zones abbreviations or UTC offsets like: 'August 14, 2015 EST', 'July 4, 2013 PST', '21 July 2013 10:15 pm +0500'.
  • Date lookup in longer texts.
  • Support for non-Gregorian calendar systems. See Supported Calendars.
  • Extensive test coverage.

Usage

The most straightforward way is to use the dateparser.parse function, that wraps around most of the functionality in the module.

.. automodule:: dateparser
   :members: parse


Popular Formats

>>> import dateparser
>>> dateparser.parse('12/12/12')
datetime.datetime(2012, 12, 12, 0, 0)
>>> dateparser.parse(u'Fri, 12 Dec 2014 10:55:50')
datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 12, 10, 55, 50)
>>> dateparser.parse(u'Martes 21 de Octubre de 2014')  # Spanish (Tuesday 21 October 2014)
datetime.datetime(2014, 10, 21, 0, 0)
>>> dateparser.parse(u'Le 11 Décembre 2014 à 09:00')  # French (11 December 2014 at 09:00)
datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 11, 9, 0)
>>> dateparser.parse(u'13 января 2015 г. в 13:34')  # Russian (13 January 2015 at 13:34)
datetime.datetime(2015, 1, 13, 13, 34)
>>> dateparser.parse(u'1 เดือนตุลาคม 2005, 1:00 AM')  # Thai (1 October 2005, 1:00 AM)
datetime.datetime(2005, 10, 1, 1, 0)

This will try to parse a date from the given string, attempting to detect the language each time.

You can specify the language(s), if known, using languages argument. In this case, given languages are used and language detection is skipped:

>>> dateparser.parse('2015, Ago 15, 1:08 pm', languages=['pt', 'es'])
datetime.datetime(2015, 8, 15, 13, 8)

If you know the possible formats of the dates, you can use the date_formats argument:

>>> dateparser.parse(u'22 Décembre 2010', date_formats=['%d %B %Y'])
datetime.datetime(2010, 12, 22, 0, 0)

Relative Dates

>>> parse('1 hour ago')
datetime.datetime(2015, 5, 31, 23, 0)
>>> parse(u'Il ya 2 heures')  # French (2 hours ago)
datetime.datetime(2015, 5, 31, 22, 0)
>>> parse(u'1 anno 2 mesi')  # Italian (1 year 2 months)
datetime.datetime(2014, 4, 1, 0, 0)
>>> parse(u'yaklaşık 23 saat önce')  # Turkish (23 hours ago)
datetime.datetime(2015, 5, 31, 1, 0)
>>> parse(u'Hace una semana')  # Spanish (a week ago)
datetime.datetime(2015, 5, 25, 0, 0)
>>> parse(u'2小时前')  # Chinese (2 hours ago)
datetime.datetime(2015, 5, 31, 22, 0)

Note

Testing above code might return different values for you depending on your environment's current date and time.

Note

Support for relative dates in future needs a lot of improvement, we look forward to community's contribution to get better on that part. See `Contributing`_.

OOTB Language Based Date Order Preference

>>> # parsing ambiguous date
>>> parse('02-03-2016')  # assumes english language, uses MDY date order
datetime.datetime(2016, 3, 2, 0, 0)
>>> parse('le 02-03-2016')  # detects french, uses DMY date order
datetime.datetime(2016, 3, 2, 0, 0)

Note

Ordering is not locale based, that's why do not expect DMY order for UK/Australia English. You can specify date order in that case as follows usings `Settings`_:

>>> parse('18-12-15 06:00', settings={'DATE_ORDER': 'DMY'})
datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 18, 6, 0)

For more on date order, please look at `Settings`_.

Timezone and UTC Offset

By default, dateparser returns tzaware datetime if timezone is present in date string. Otherwise, it returns a naive datetime object.

>>> parse('January 12, 2012 10:00 PM EST')
datetime.datetime(2012, 1, 12, 22, 0, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'EST'>)
>>> parse('January 12, 2012 10:00 PM -0500')
datetime.datetime(2012, 1, 12, 22, 0, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'UTC\-05:00'>)
>>> parse('2 hours ago EST')
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 10, 15, 55, 39, 579667, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'EST'>)
>>> parse('2 hours ago -0500')
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 10, 15, 59, 30, 193431, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'UTC\-05:00'>)

If date has no timezone name/abbreviation or offset, you can specify it using TIMEZONE setting.

>>> parse('January 12, 2012 10:00 PM', settings={'TIMEZONE': 'US/Eastern'})
datetime.datetime(2012, 1, 12, 22, 0)
>>> parse('January 12, 2012 10:00 PM', settings={'TIMEZONE': '+0500'})
datetime.datetime(2012, 1, 12, 22, 0)

TIMEZONE option may not be useful alone as it only attaches given timezone to resultant datetime object. But can be useful in cases where you want conversions from and to different timezones or when simply want a tzaware date with given timezone info attached.

>>> parse('January 12, 2012 10:00 PM', settings={'TIMEZONE': 'US/Eastern', 'RETURN_AS_TIMEZONE_AWARE': True})
datetime.datetime(2012, 1, 12, 22, 0, tzinfo=<DstTzInfo 'US/Eastern' EST-1 day, 19:00:00 STD>)
>>> parse('10:00 am', settings={'TIMEZONE': 'EST', 'TO_TIMEZONE': 'EDT'})
datetime.datetime(2016, 9, 25, 11, 0)

Some more use cases for conversion of timezones.

>>> parse('10:00 am EST', settings={'TO_TIMEZONE': 'EDT'})  # date string has timezone info
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 12, 11, 0, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'EDT'>)
>>> parse('now EST', settings={'TO_TIMEZONE': 'UTC'})  # relative dates
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 10, 23, 24, 47, 371823, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'UTC'>)

In case, no timezone is present in date string or defined in settings. You can still return tzaware datetime. It is especially useful in case of relative dates when uncertain what timezone is relative base.

>>> parse('2 minutes ago', settings={'RETURN_AS_TIMEZONE_AWARE': True})
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 11, 4, 25, 24, 152670, tzinfo=<DstTzInfo 'Asia/Karachi' PKT+5:00:00 STD>)

In case, you want to compute relative dates in UTC instead of default system's local timezone, you can use TIMEZONE setting.

>>> parse('4 minutes ago', settings={'TIMEZONE': 'UTC'})
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 10, 23, 27, 59, 647248, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'UTC'>)

Note

In case, when timezone is present both in string and also specified using settings, string is parsed into tzaware representation and then converted to timezone specified in settings.

>>> parse('10:40 pm PKT', settings={'TIMEZONE': 'UTC'})
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 12, 17, 40, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'UTC'>)
>>> parse('20 mins ago EST', settings={'TIMEZONE': 'UTC'})
datetime.datetime(2017, 3, 12, 21, 16, 0, 885091, tzinfo=<StaticTzInfo 'UTC'>)

For more on timezones, please look at `Settings`_.

Incomplete Dates

>>> from dateparser import parse
>>> parse(u'December 2015')  # default behavior
datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 16, 0, 0)
>>> parse(u'December 2015', settings={'PREFER_DAY_OF_MONTH': 'last'})
datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 31, 0, 0)
>>> parse(u'December 2015', settings={'PREFER_DAY_OF_MONTH': 'first'})
datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 1, 0, 0)
>>> parse(u'March')
datetime.datetime(2015, 3, 16, 0, 0)
>>> parse(u'March', settings={'PREFER_DATES_FROM': 'future'})
datetime.datetime(2016, 3, 16, 0, 0)
>>> # parsing with preference set for 'past'
>>> parse('August', settings={'PREFER_DATES_FROM': 'past'})
datetime.datetime(2015, 8, 15, 0, 0)

You can also ignore parsing incomplete dates altogether by setting STRICT_PARSING flag as follows:

>>> parse(u'December 2015', settings={'STRICT_PARSING': True})
None

For more on handling incomplete dates, please look at `Settings`_.

Search for Dates in Longer Chunks of Text

You can extract dates from longer strings of text. They are returned as list of tuples with text chunk containing the date and parsed datetime object.

.. automodule:: dateparser.search
   :members: search_dates

Dependencies

dateparser relies on following libraries in some ways:

  • dateutil's module relativedelta for its freshness parser.
  • jdatetime to convert Jalali dates to Gregorian.
  • umalqurra to convert Hijri dates to Gregorian.
  • tzlocal to reliably get local timezone.
  • ruamel.yaml (optional) for operations on language files.

Supported languages and locales

Language Locales
en 'en-001', 'en-150', 'en-AG', 'en-AI', 'en-AS', 'en-AT', 'en-AU', 'en-BB', 'en-BE', 'en-BI', 'en-BM', 'en-BS', 'en-BW', 'en-BZ', 'en-CA', 'en-CC', 'en-CH', 'en-CK', 'en-CM', 'en-CX', 'en-CY', 'en-DE', 'en-DG', 'en-DK', 'en-DM', 'en-ER', 'en-FI', 'en-FJ', 'en-FK', 'en-FM', 'en-GB', 'en-GD', 'en-GG', 'en-GH', 'en-GI', 'en-GM', 'en-GU', 'en-GY', 'en-HK', 'en-IE', 'en-IL', 'en-IM', 'en-IN', 'en-IO', 'en-JE', 'en-JM', 'en-KE', 'en-KI', 'en-KN', 'en-KY', 'en-LC', 'en-LR', 'en-LS', 'en-MG', 'en-MH', 'en-MO', 'en-MP', 'en-MS', 'en-MT', 'en-MU', 'en-MW', 'en-MY', 'en-NA', 'en-NF', 'en-NG', 'en-NL', 'en-NR', 'en-NU', 'en-NZ', 'en-PG', 'en-PH', 'en-PK', 'en-PN', 'en-PR', 'en-PW', 'en-RW', 'en-SB', 'en-SC', 'en-SD', 'en-SE', 'en-SG', 'en-SH', 'en-SI', 'en-SL', 'en-SS', 'en-SX', 'en-SZ', 'en-TC', 'en-TK', 'en-TO', 'en-TT', 'en-TV', 'en-TZ', 'en-UG', 'en-UM', 'en-VC', 'en-VG', 'en-VI', 'en-VU', 'en-WS', 'en-ZA', 'en-ZM', 'en-ZW'
zh  
zh-Hans 'zh-Hans-HK', 'zh-Hans-MO', 'zh-Hans-SG'
hi  
es 'es-419', 'es-AR', 'es-BO', 'es-BR', 'es-BZ', 'es-CL', 'es-CO', 'es-CR', 'es-CU', 'es-DO', 'es-EA', 'es-EC', 'es-GQ', 'es-GT', 'es-HN', 'es-IC', 'es-MX', 'es-NI', 'es-PA', 'es-PE', 'es-PH', 'es-PR', 'es-PY', 'es-SV', 'es-US', 'es-UY', 'es-VE'
ar 'ar-AE', 'ar-BH', 'ar-DJ', 'ar-DZ', 'ar-EG', 'ar-EH', 'ar-ER', 'ar-IL', 'ar-IQ', 'ar-JO', 'ar-KM', 'ar-KW', 'ar-LB', 'ar-LY', 'ar-MA', 'ar-MR', 'ar-OM', 'ar-PS', 'ar-QA', 'ar-SA', 'ar-SD', 'ar-SO', 'ar-SS', 'ar-SY', 'ar-TD', 'ar-TN', 'ar-YE'
bn 'bn-IN'
fr 'fr-BE', 'fr-BF', 'fr-BI', 'fr-BJ', 'fr-BL', 'fr-CA', 'fr-CD', 'fr-CF', 'fr-CG', 'fr-CH', 'fr-CI', 'fr-CM', 'fr-DJ', 'fr-DZ', 'fr-GA', 'fr-GF', 'fr-GN', 'fr-GP', 'fr-GQ', 'fr-HT', 'fr-KM', 'fr-LU', 'fr-MA', 'fr-MC', 'fr-MF', 'fr-MG', 'fr-ML', 'fr-MQ', 'fr-MR', 'fr-MU', 'fr-NC', 'fr-NE', 'fr-PF', 'fr-PM', 'fr-RE', 'fr-RW', 'fr-SC', 'fr-SN', 'fr-SY', 'fr-TD', 'fr-TG', 'fr-TN', 'fr-VU', 'fr-WF', 'fr-YT'
ur 'ur-IN'
pt 'pt-AO', 'pt-CH', 'pt-CV', 'pt-GQ', 'pt-GW', 'pt-LU', 'pt-MO', 'pt-MZ', 'pt-PT', 'pt-ST', 'pt-TL'
ru 'ru-BY', 'ru-KG', 'ru-KZ', 'ru-MD', 'ru-UA'
id  
sw 'sw-CD', 'sw-KE', 'sw-UG'
pa-Arab  
de 'de-AT', 'de-BE', 'de-CH', 'de-IT', 'de-LI', 'de-LU'
ja  
te  
mr  
vi  
fa 'fa-AF'
ta 'ta-LK', 'ta-MY', 'ta-SG'
tr 'tr-CY'
yue  
ko 'ko-KP'
it 'it-CH', 'it-SM', 'it-VA'
fil  
gu  
th  
kn  
ps  
zh-Hant 'zh-Hant-HK', 'zh-Hant-MO'
ml  
or  
pl  
my  
pa  
pa-Guru  
am  
om 'om-KE'
ha 'ha-GH', 'ha-NE'
nl 'nl-AW', 'nl-BE', 'nl-BQ', 'nl-CW', 'nl-SR', 'nl-SX'
uk  
uz  
uz-Latn  
yo 'yo-BJ'
ms 'ms-BN', 'ms-SG'
ig  
ro 'ro-MD'
mg  
ne 'ne-IN'
as  
so 'so-DJ', 'so-ET', 'so-KE'
si  
km  
zu  
cs  
sv 'sv-AX', 'sv-FI'
hu  
el 'el-CY'
sn  
kk  
rw  
ckb 'ckb-IR'
qu 'qu-BO', 'qu-EC'
ak  
be  
ti 'ti-ER'
az  
az-Latn  
af 'af-NA'
ca 'ca-AD', 'ca-FR', 'ca-IT'
sr-Latn 'sr-Latn-BA', 'sr-Latn-ME', 'sr-Latn-XK'
ii  
he  
bg  
bm  
ki  
gsw 'gsw-FR', 'gsw-LI'
sr  
sr-Cyrl 'sr-Cyrl-BA', 'sr-Cyrl-ME', 'sr-Cyrl-XK'
ug  
zgh  
ff 'ff-CM', 'ff-GN', 'ff-MR'
rn  
da 'da-GL'
hr 'hr-BA'
sq 'sq-MK', 'sq-XK'
sk  
fi  
ks  
hy  
nb 'nb-SJ'
luy  
lg  
lo  
bem  
kok  
luo  
uz-Cyrl  
ka  
ee 'ee-TG'
mzn  
bs-Cyrl  
bs  
bs-Latn  
kln  
kam  
gl  
tzm  
dje  
kab  
bo 'bo-IN'
shi-Latn  
shi  
shi-Tfng  
mn  
ln 'ln-AO', 'ln-CF', 'ln-CG'
ky  
sg  
lt  
nyn  
guz  
cgg  
xog  
lrc 'lrc-IQ'
mer  
lu  
sl  
teo 'teo-KE'
brx  
nd  
mk  
uz-Arab  
mas 'mas-TZ'
nn  
kde  
mfe  
lv  
seh  
mgh  
az-Cyrl  
ga  
eu  
yi  
ce  
et  
ksb  
bez  
ewo  
fy  
ebu  
nus  
ast  
asa  
ses  
os 'os-RU'
br  
cy  
kea  
lag  
sah  
mt  
vun  
rof  
jmc  
lb  
dav  
dyo  
dz  
nnh  
is  
khq  
bas  
naq  
mua  
ksh  
saq  
se 'se-FI', 'se-SE'
dua  
rwk  
mgo  
sbp  
to  
jgo  
ksf  
fo 'fo-DK'
gd  
kl  
rm  
fur  
agq  
haw  
chr  
hsb  
wae  
nmg  
lkt  
twq  
dsb  
yav  
kw  
gv  
smn  
eo  
tl  

Supported Calendars

  • Gregorian calendar.

  • Persian Jalali calendar. For more information, refer to Persian Jalali Calendar.

  • Hijri/Islamic Calendar. For more information, refer to Hijri Calendar.

    >>> from dateparser.calendars.jalali import JalaliCalendar
    >>> JalaliCalendar(u'جمعه سی ام اسفند ۱۳۸۷').get_date()
    {'date_obj': datetime.datetime(2009, 3, 20, 0, 0), 'period': 'day'}
    >>> from dateparser.calendars.hijri import HijriCalendar
    >>> HijriCalendar(u'17-01-1437 هـ 08:30 مساءً').get_date()
    {'date_obj': datetime.datetime(2015, 10, 30, 20, 30), 'period': 'day'}

Note

HijriCalendar has some limitations with Python 3.

Note

For Finnish language, please specify settings={'SKIP_TOKENS': []} to correctly parse freshness dates.

Install using following command to use calendars.

Tip

pip install dateparser[calendars]