Convert DataFrame column type from string to datetime, dd/mm/yyyy format

Question

How can I convert a DataFrame column of strings (in dd/mm/yyyy format) to datetimes?

Answer 1

If your date column is a string of the format '2017-01-01' you can use pandas astype to convert it to datetime.

df['date'] = df['date'].astype('datetime64[ns]')

or use datetime64[D] if you want Day precision and not nanoseconds

print(type(df_launath['date'].iloc[0]))

yields

the same as when you use pandas.to_datetime

You can try it with other formats then '%Y-%m-%d' but at least this works.