Pandas Convert Datetime to Date Column

We can convert DateTime to Date in pandas by using pandas.Series.dt.date and dt.normalize() methods. In Pandas, DateTime is a collection of dates and times in the format of “YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS” where YYYY-MM-DD is referred to as the date and HH:MM:SS is referred to as Time.

In this article, I will explain convert DateTime to date by extracting only date from the date and time column of DataFrame.

Key Points –

• Converting datetime to date in Pandas is often useful to simplify data or match formats in date-only datasets.
• By default, datetime columns include both date and time components. Converting to date removes the time component.
• Use the .dt.date accessor to extract the date from a datetime column.
• After extraction, assign the result back to the original column or to a new column as needed.
• Ensure the column is in datetime format first, using pd.to_datetime() if necessary.
• For DataFrames with a datetime index, use .index.date to access just the date portion of each index entry.

Quick Examples of Pandas Convert Datetime to Date

Below are some quick examples of converting the DateTime column to Date.

# Quick examples of convert Datetime to Date

# Example 1: Using date function                               
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.date

# Example 2: Using single date function
Datetime = '2021-11-15 21:04:15'
df2 = pd.to_datetime(Datetime).date()

# Example 3: Using normalize() method
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.normalize()

To run some examples of converting DateTime to Date in pandas, let’s create a Pandas DataFrame.

# Create Pandas DataFrame
import pandas as pd
technologies = ({
         'Courses':["Spark","PySpark","Hadoop","Python","Pandas"],
         'Fee':[22000,25000,23000,24000,26000],
         "InsertedDateTime":['2021-11-15 21:04:15','2020-05-04 22:04:10','2018-01-26 15:23:14','2019-02-18 10:05:18','2021-12-10 15:13:21']
           })
df = pd.DataFrame(technologies)
print("Create DataFrame:\n", df)

Yields below output.

Convert Datetime to Date

The Datetime column can store the date and time together, If you want just the date and do not want time in format YYYY-MM-DD format use pandas.Series.dt.date. Here, pandas.to_datetime() is used to convert the String column to DateTime.

# Using Date function
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.date
print("After converting datetime to date:\n", df)

Yields below output.

If the date in the string column is already in date format, then just use date() to truncate the time.

# Using single date function to get
# date from datetime column
Datetime = '2021-11-15 21:04:15'
df2 = pd.to_datetime(Datetime).date()
print(df2)

# Output:
# 2021-11-15

Convert Datetime to Date Using normalize() Method

You can convert DateTime to date using the normalize() method. Use pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.normalize() method to normalize the data by extracting the date from DateTime.

# Using normalize() method
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.normalize()
print("After converting datetime to date:\n", df)

Yields below output.

# Output:
# After converting datetime to date:
    Courses    Fee     InsertedDateTime       Date
0    Spark  22000  2021-11-15 21:04:15 2021-11-15
1  PySpark  25000  2020-05-04 22:04:10 2020-05-04
2   Hadoop  23000  2018-01-26 15:23:14 2018-01-26
3   Python  24000  2019-02-18 10:05:18 2019-02-18
4   Pandas  26000  2021-12-10 15:13:21 2021-12-10

Complete Example Of Convert Datetime to Date

# Example Of Convert Datetime to Date 
import pandas as pd
technologies = ({
         'Courses':["Spark","PySpark","Hadoop","Python","Pandas"],
         'Fee':[22000,25000,23000,24000,26000],
         "InsertedDateTime":['2021-11-15 21:04:15','2020-05-04 22:04:10','2018-01-26 15:23:14','2019-02-18 10:05:18','2021-12-10 15:13:21']
           })
df = pd.DataFrame(technologies)
print(df)                               

# Using Date function                               
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.date
print(df)

# Using single date function
Datetime = '2021-11-15 21:04:15'
df2 = pd.to_datetime(Datetime).date()
print(df2)

# Using normalize() method
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df["InsertedDateTime"]).dt.normalize()
print(df)

Frequently Asked Questions on Convert Datetime to Date

Conclusion

In this article, I have explained convert DateTime to date in pandas by using pandas.Series.dt.date and dt.normalize(), and date() function and with several examples.

Happy Learning !!

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References

• https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/reference/api/pandas.to_datetime.html