Python time

[marciokoko]

Imi trying to compare two times, but the result comes back backwards.  Here is my code

import time, datetime
while True:
   now_time = datetime.time()#time.time()
   now_time_string = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
   print("now_time")
   print now_time_string

   timeon_time = datetime.time(18, 00, 00, 000000)
   print("timeon_time")
   print timeon_time
   if now_time<timeon_time: print("now is smaller-earlier")
   else: print("now is later, fire!")

it is currently 19:26pm, and if I run the script I get these results.  
now_time=19:26:50 & timeon_time=18:00:00, so now_time > timeon_time.  
This means "now is later, fire!" should print but I get, why?:

Results:

now_time
19:26:50
timeon_time
18:00:00
now is smaller-earlier
now_time
19:26:50
timeon_time
18:00:00
now is smaller-earlier

[Larz60+]

In the future, Please use code tags

The following has a bunch of time comparison examples and will be helful

Python 2:
https://pymotw.com/2/time/

Python 3:
https://pymotw.com/3/time/

and (my favorite):
http://pleac.sourceforge.net/pleac_pytho...times.html

[Skaperen]

what is that #time.time() expected to do?

[Yoriz]

It's a comment, it's not expected to do anything.

[Skaperen]

It's a comment, it's not expected to do anything.

i'm asking what was he thinking.  i know what the code does.

he's doing: 

now_time = datetime.time()

which is equivalent to doing:  

now_time = datetime.time(0, 0)

which is definitely going to be a lower/earlier value.  maybe he should have been doing:

now_time = datetime.datetime.now()

[marciokoko]

I tried this:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import time, datetime
print datetime.datetime.now()
ref_time = datetime.time("18 00", "%H:%M")
if ref_time>datetime.datetime.now(): print("ref_time is greater")
else: print("now is greater")

but I cant get it to work.  Please help

[Skaperen]

what are you expecting line 4 to do?  i get TypeError: an integer is required

Output:
lt1/forums /home/forums 7> cat marciokoko.py
#!/usr/bin/env python
import time, datetime
print datetime.datetime.now()
ref_time = datetime.time("18 00", "%H:%M")
if ref_time>datetime.datetime.now(): print("ref_time is greater")
else: print("now is greater")
lt1/forums /home/forums 8> python2 marciokoko.py
2016-11-16 22:26:44.928197
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "marciokoko.py", line 4, in <module>
    ref_time = datetime.time("18 00", "%H:%M")
TypeError: an integer is required
lt1/forums /home/forums 9>

[snippsat]

Even if fix "integer is required" it will not work.

>>> datetime.datetime.now() < datetime.time(18, 00)
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "<interactive input>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: can't compare datetime.datetime to datetime.time

It is better to keep all in datetime.datetime object.
Can use combine like this to make datetime.time a datetime object.

import time, datetime

print(datetime.datetime.now())
ref_time = datetime.datetime.combine(datetime.datetime.now(), datetime.time(18, 00))
if ref_time > datetime.datetime.now():
    print("ref_time is greater")
else:
    print("now is greater")

Look at an use Pendulum.

[marciokoko]

Thanks! One last doubt. Is there a neat way to take the string received as reference_time, "18:00", and use it directly in datetime.time(18, 00), or do I just parse it as a string by cutting off the last 3 places?