The best way to filter a log by a dates range in python

Question

What\'s the best way to print log lines that match a datetime range. For example:

I would like to print only lines with dates from: 2012/09/30-00:00:10 to: 2012/09/

Answer 1

I am not sure of the performance implications (I suspect Tim's answer might be faster), but this approach works for any date range:

>>> def dates(start,end):
...     for i in range(int((end-start).seconds)):
...         yield start + datetime.timedelta(seconds=i)
...
>>> fmt = '%Y/%m/%d-%H:%M:%S'
>>> from_date = datetime.datetime.strptime('2012/09/30-00:00:10',fmt)
>>> till_date = datetime.datetime.strptime('2012/09/30-00:00:13',fmt)
>>> with open('file.log') as f:
...     for line in f:
...         if datetime.datetime.strptime(line.split()[0][:-4],fmt) in dates(fro
m_date,till_date):
...              print line
...
2012/09/30-00:00:10.526 log info
2012/09/30-00:00:10.995 log warning
2012/09/30-00:00:12.014 log warning