python: difference of two timedate strings

Question

I have two date strings (taken from user input and can vary greatly)

s1 = \'2011:10:01:10:30:00\'
s2 = \'2011:10:01:11:15:00\'

I wish to fi

Answer 1

import datetime

d1 = datetime.datetime.strptime('2011:10:01:10:30:00', '%Y:%m:%d:%H:%M:%S')
d2 = datetime.datetime.strptime('2011:10:01:11:15:00', '%Y:%m:%d:%H:%M:%S')
diff = (d2 - d1).total_seconds() / 60

If you need to handle arbitrary datetime formats, I don't believe the built in datetime library will do that for you. Perhaps check out something like:

http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxBase/mxDateTime/