Python’s strftime directives

Examples are based on datetime.datetime(2013, 9, 30, 7, 6, 5)

Code Meaning Example
%a Weekday as locale’s abbreviated name. Mon
%A Weekday as locale’s full name. Monday
%w Weekday as a decimal number, where 0 is Sunday and 6 is Saturday. 1
%d Day of the month as a zero-padded decimal number. 30
%-d Day of the month as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 30
%b Month as locale’s abbreviated name. Sep
%B Month as locale’s full name. September
%m Month as a zero-padded decimal number. 09
%-m Month as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 9
%y Year without century as a zero-padded decimal number. 13
%Y Year with century as a decimal number. 2013
%H Hour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number. 07
%-H Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 7
%I Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number. 07
%-I Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 7
%p Locale’s equivalent of either AM or PM. AM
%M Minute as a zero-padded decimal number. 06
%-M Minute as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 6
%S Second as a zero-padded decimal number. 05
%-S Second as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 5
%f Microsecond as a decimal number, zero-padded on the left. 000000
%z UTC offset in the form +HHMM or -HHMM (empty string if the the object is naive).
%Z Time zone name (empty string if the object is naive).
%j Day of the year as a zero-padded decimal number. 273
%-j Day of the year as a decimal number. (Platform specific) 273
%U Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a zero padded decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0. 39
%W Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0. 39
%c Locale’s appropriate date and time representation. Mon Sep 30 07:06:05 2013
%x Locale’s appropriate date representation. 09/30/13
%X Locale’s appropriate time representation. 07:06:05
%% A literal ‘%’ character. %