Get time zone information of the system in Python?

Question

I want to get the default timezone (PST) of my system from Python. What\'s the best way to do that? I\'d like to avoid forking another process.

Answer 1

To obtain timezone information in the form of a datetime.tzinfo object, use dateutil.tz.tzlocal():

from dateutil import tz
myTimeZone = tz.tzlocal()

This object can be used in the tz parameter of datetime.datetime.now():

from datetime import datetime
from dateutil import tz
localisedDatetime = datetime.now(tz = tz.tzlocal())

or the tz parameter of datetime object via datetime.datetime.astimezone():

from datetime import datetime
from dateutil import tz
unlocalisedDatetime = datetime.now()
localisedDatetime = unlocalisedDatetime.astimezone(tz = tz.tzlocal())

Answer 2

Gives a UTC offset like in ThomasH's answer, but takes daylight savings into account.

>>> import time
>>> offset = time.timezone if (time.localtime().tm_isdst == 0) else time.altzone
>>> offset / 60 / 60 * -1
-9

The value of time.timezone or time.altzone is in seconds West of UTC (with areas East of UTC getting a negative value). This is the opposite to how we'd actually like it, hence the * -1.

time.localtime().tm_isdst will be zero if daylight savings is currently not in effect (although this may not be correct if an area has recently changed their daylight savings law).

EDIT: marr75 is correct, I've edited the answer accordingly.