| Code | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Code %a | Example Sun | Description Weekday as locale's abbreviated name. |
| Code %A | Example Sunday | Description Weekday as locale's full name. |
| Code %w | Example 0 | Description Weekday as a decimal number, where 0 is Sunday and 6 is Saturday. |
| Code %d | Example 08 | Description Day of the month as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-d | Example 8 | Description Day of the month as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %b | Example Sep | Description Month as locale's abbreviated name. |
| Code %B | Example September | Description Month as locale's full name. |
| Code %m | Example 09 | Description Month as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-m | Example 9 | Description Month as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %y | Example 13 | Description Year without century as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %Y | Example 2013 | Description Year with century as a decimal number. |
| Code %H | Example 07 | Description Hour (24-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-H | Example 7 | Description Hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %I | Example 07 | Description Hour (12-hour clock) as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-I | Example 7 | Description Hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %p | Example AM | Description Locale's equivalent of either AM or PM. |
| Code %M | Example 06 | Description Minute as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-M | Example 6 | Description Minute as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %S | Example 05 | Description Second as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-S | Example 5 | Description Second as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %f | Example 000000 | Description Microsecond as a decimal number, zero-padded to 6 digits. |
| Code %z | Example +0000 | Description UTC offset in the form ±HHMM[SS[.ffffff]] (empty string if the object is naive). |
| Code %Z | Example UTC | Description Time zone name (empty string if the object is naive). |
| Code %j | Example 251 | Description Day of the year as a zero-padded decimal number. |
| Code %-j | Example 251 | Description Day of the year as a decimal number. (Platform specific) |
| Code %U | Example 36 | Description 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. |
| Code %-U | Example 36 | Description Week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Sunday are considered to be in week 0. (Platform specific) |
| Code %W | Example 35 | Description Week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a zero-padded decimal number. All days in a new year preceding the first Monday are considered to be in week 0. |
| Code %-W | Example 35 | Description 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. (Platform specific) |
| Code %c | Example Sun Sep 8 07:06:05 2013 | Description Locale's appropriate date and time representation. |
| Code %x | Example 09/08/13 | Description Locale's appropriate date representation. |
| Code %X | Example 07:06:05 | Description Locale's appropriate time representation. |
| Code %% | Example % | Description A literal '%' character. |
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Platform-specific directives
The full set of format codes supported varies across platforms, because Python calls the platform C library's strftime() function, and platform variations are common. To see the full set of format codes supported on your platform, consult the strftime(3) documentation.
The Python docs contain all the format codes that the C standard (1989 version) requires, and these work on all platforms with a standard C implementation. Note that the 1999 version of the C standard added additional format codes. These include codes for non-zero-padded numbers, that can be obtained by appending a dash (-) (UNIX) or hash (#) (Windows) after the percent (%) sign.
Source
This cheatsheet was built from the Python standard library strftime documentation. See github.com/mccutchen/strftime.org for the build source code.