python: how to handle timestamps (ISO8601)

Question

I have to deal in python with strings representing iso8601 timestamps.

My timestamps string are therefore in the following form:

timestamp = \"2011-0         


        

Answer 1

The python iso8601 module is built with a wonderful parse_date method that can handle timezone info :

>>> import iso8601
>>> iso8601.parse_date("2007-01-25T12:00:00Z")
datetime.datetime(2007, 1, 25, 12, 0, tzinfo=)

>>> iso8601.parse_date("2011-08-18T10:29:47+03:00")
datetime.datetime(2011, 8, 18, 10, 29, 47, tzinfo=)

If you want to convert it in another timezone, use the astimezone(tz) method

If you need to get the UTC datetime you can use the utctimetuple() method.