In this article, we will help you understand why TypeError: ‘>’ not supported between instances of ‘datetime.datetime’ and ‘str’ in Python appears and how to fix it. Read on for more details.
Why does the TypeError: ‘>’ not supported between instances of ‘datetime.datetime’ and ‘str’ in Python occur?
The TypeError: ‘>’ not supported between instances of ‘datetime.datetime’ and ‘str’ in Python happens when you compare a string with a datetime instance. See the code below for a better understanding.
from datetime import date
halloween = "2022-10-31 00:00:00"
today = date.today()
if today > halloween:
print("today > Halloween!!!")
else:
print("today < Halloween!!!")Output:
TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'datetime.datetime' and 'str'Below, we will guide you two through ways to handle this problem when you encounter it.
How to fix this error?
Using datetime.strptime() function
Python’s strptime() function creates a datetime instance from a given string. However, it cannot pass any strings into the function. The string here must satisfy a specific format to return the result.
Syntax:
datetime.strptime(string, format)
Parameters:
- string: string containing date and time values in the specified format.
- format: the date format of the string, as well as the output.
Note that the format must match the time format used in the string. For example, with the string “2020/10/14 10:5:30” we need to specify the format as “%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S”. Otherwise, an error will occur when running the program.
In this case, we will pass the first parameter as a string containing the time information we want to convert to the time format. The second parameter is a format corresponding to how the time is written in that first parameter. Then the result will return a time format. From there, we can compare datetime.datetime with string. See the code below for a better understanding.
from datetime import datetime
# Using strptime()
halloween = datetime.strptime('2022-10-31', "%Y-%m-%d")
today = datetime.today()
if today > halloween:
print("today > Halloween!!!")
else:
print("today < Halloween!!!")Output:
today < Halloween!!!Using parse() function in dateutil
The parser.parse() function provides a parser of a string containing the time. This module ignores uncertain input formats like a time format, returning a datetime instance even for ambiguous dates.
Syntax:
parser.parse(string)
Parameters:
- string: a string you want to format.
Before using it, we have to import the parser with a line of code like this:
from dateutil import parser
We will pass a string containing the time into the parser.parse() function. Then the result will return a time format. So we can compare it with string. See the code below for a better understanding.
from datetime import datetime
from dateutil import parser
# Using parser.parse()
halloween = parser.parse("2022-10-31 00:00:00")
today = datetime.today()
if today > halloween:
print("today > Halloween!!!")
else:
print("today < Halloween!!!")Output:
today < Halloween!!!Notice: You must install the dateutil library using the command line: pip install python-dateutil before using it.
Summary
We have just shown you two ways to avoid and fix the TypeError: ‘>’ not supported between instances of ‘datetime.datetime’ and ‘str’ in Python. We hope this article helps you to understand the problem better.
Have a lucky day!
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