datetime from string in Python, best-guessing string format

The function to get a datetime from a string, datetime.strptime(date_string, format) requires a string format as the second argument. Is there a way to build a datetime from a string without without knowing the exact format, and having Python best-guess it?

Use the dateutil library.

I was already using dateutil as an indispensable lib for handling timezones
(See Convert UTC datetime string to local datetime and How do I convert local time to UTC in Python?)

And I've just realized it has date parsing support:

import dateutil.parser
yourdate = dateutil.parser.parse(datestring)

(See also How do I translate a ISO 8601 datetime string into a Python datetime object?)

Can get away with a simple function if only checking against dates.

def get_date(s_date):
    date_patterns = ["%d-%m-%Y", "%Y-%m-%d"]

    for pattern in date_patterns:
        try:
            return datetime.datetime.strptime(s_date, pattern).date()
        except:
            pass
    
    print "Date is not in expected format: %s" %(s_date)
    sys.exit(0)

Back before I was a python guy, I was a perl guy. One of the things that I've always missed but haven't seen anything close to it is Date::Manip. That module can extract a good timestamp from a smattering of nibbles. I almost suspect that it's author struck a deal with the Devil.

I've run across a few things that take stabs at it in Python:

• normaldate
• mxDateTime
• roundup's date module has some fans

If you find anything better I'd love to hear about it though.

You can use datefinder ,It will detect all types of natural style of dates.

import datefinder # Module used to find different style of date with time

string_value = " created 01/15/2005 by ACME inc.and associates.January 4th,2017 at 8pm"
matches = datefinder.find_dates(string_value)            
for match in matches:
    print("match found ",match)

Output

match found  2005-01-15 00:00:00
match found  2017-01-04 20:00:00