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Python strftime - date without leading 0?

Asked 2009-05-25T00:11:49.477
438

When using Python strftime, is there a way to remove the first 0 of the date if it's before the 10th, ie. so 01 is 1? Can't find a %thingy for that?

Thanks!

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2 Answers

843

Actually I had the same problem and I realized that, if you add a hyphen between the % and the letter, you can remove the leading zero.

For example %Y/%-m/%-d:

>>> import datetime
>>> datetime.datetime(2023, 1, 2).strftime("%Y/%-m/%-d")
'2023/1/2'

This only works on Unix (Linux, OS X), not Windows (including Cygwin). On Windows, you would use #, e.g. %Y/%#m/%#d.

answered 2010-01-15T16:38:41.417
47

Some platforms may support width and precision specification between % and the letter (such as 'd' for day of month), according to http://docs.python.org/library/time.html -- but it's definitely a non-portable solution (e.g. doesn't work on my Mac;-). Maybe you can use a string replace (or RE, for really nasty format) after the strftime to remedy that? e.g.:

>>> y
(2009, 5, 7, 17, 17, 17, 3, 127, 1)
>>> time.strftime('%Y %m %d', y)
'2009 05 07'
>>> time.strftime('%Y %m %d', y).replace(' 0', ' ')
'2009 5 7'
answered 2009-05-25T00:22:43.277

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