From stat().st_mtime to datetime?

python python-3.x datetime stat pathlib
Travis Griggs picture Travis Griggs · Sep 7, 2016 · Viewed 46.4k times · Source

What is the most idiomatic/efficient way to convert from a modification time retrieved from stat() call to a datetime object? I came up with the following (python3):

from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
from pathlib import Path

path = Path('foo')
path.touch()
statResult = path.stat()
epoch = datetime(1970, 1, 1, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
modified = epoch + timedelta(seconds=statResult.st_mtime)
print('modified', modified)

Seems round a bout, and a bit surprising that I have to hard code the Unix epoch in there. Is there a more direct way?

Answer

Take_Care_ picture Take_Care_ · Sep 7, 2016

You can use datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp, i.e.

from datetime import datetime, timezone
...
stat_result = path.stat()
modified = datetime.fromtimestamp(stat_result.st_mtime, tz=timezone.utc)
print('modified', modified)

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