# Datetime conversion issue **URL:** \ **Category:** Maker\ **Created:** [October 13, 2022, 7:47am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156 "2022-10-13T07:47:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chris.Wyllie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@Chris.Wyllie](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Chris.Wyllie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 7:47am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/1 "2022-10-13T07:47:05Z")
Hi Guys, I am pulling a "last\_seen" tag (datetime in a string datatype) from a json object coming from an MQTT server. In Ignition I have a referance tag that points to the MQTT tag, it has an on value change event script that runs when this value updates. ```auto from datetime import datetime # If date time convert string to datetime object if key == "last_seen": print "The time string is " + value[0] value2 = [datetime.strptime(value[0], '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S+11:00')] print "The time conversion is " + str(value2[0]) system.tag.writeBlocking(path,value2) else: system.tag.writeBlocking(path,value) ``` The print output is: ```auto The time string is 2022-10-13T18:59:11+11:00 The time conversion is 2022-10-13 18:59:11 ``` But the datetime tag vaule is "2022-10-14 05:59:11.0" as you can see it is 23 hours ahead. I have checked the MQTT and the Igntion servers OS and both are set for the same time and time zone. The correct tag is written to when this runs, the value is just wrong I am unsure why there is this discrepancy, here. Ignition maker 8.1.14 ---
**Author:** ![jeremy.lecoutre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3e96dc/32.png) [@jeremy.lecoutre](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jeremy.lecoutre)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 11:57am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/2 "2022-10-13T11:57:04Z")
Convert time from str is always little bite tricky. If you have java.date in input and you want convert it in datetime, just do that: ```auto from datetime import datetime dt = datetime.fromtimestamp(yourJavaDate.getTime()/1000.0) ``` But if you absolutely want to parse the date from the string, it's more complex. In your script you intentionally omit the timezone (+11:00), which explains your difference. > value2 = [datetime.strptime(value[0], '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S+11:00')] strptime supports %z for timezone only from python 3.2 onwards, so you need to create your own parser. You can use this script to do that: ```auto from datetime import datetime, timedelta, tzinfo class FixedOffset(tzinfo): """Fixed offset in minutes: `time = utc_time + utc_offset`.""" def __init__ (self, offset): self.__offset = timedelta(minutes=offset) hours, minutes = divmod(offset, 60) #NOTE: the last part is to remind about deprecated POSIX GMT+h timezones # that have the opposite sign in the name; # the corresponding numeric value is not used e.g., no minutes self.__name = '<%+03d%02d>%+d' % (hours, minutes, -hours) def utcoffset(self, dt=None): return self.__offset def tzname(self, dt=None): return self.__name def dst(self, dt=None): return timedelta(0) def __repr__ (self): return 'FixedOffset(%d)' % (self.utcoffset().total_seconds() / 60) def convertStrDateToDatetime(date_str): naive_date_str = date_str[0:-6] offset_str = date_str[-6:] naive_dt = datetime.strptime(naive_date_str, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S') offset = int(offset_str[-5:-3])*60 + int(offset_str[-2:]) if offset_str[0] == "-": offset = -offset dt = naive_dt.replace(tzinfo=FixedOffset(offset)) return dt date_str = "2022-10-13T18:59:11+11:00" print "The time string is " + date_str + " " + str(type(date_str)) convert = convertStrDateToDatetime(date_str) print "The time conversion is " + str(convert) + " " + str(type(convert)) ``` Source come from [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1101508/how-to-parse-dates-with-0400-timezone-string-in-python/23122493#23122493](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1101508/how-to-parse-dates-with-0400-timezone-string-in-python/23122493#23122493) ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/3 "2022-10-13T12:10:02Z")
Don't use jython's datetime module. It is buggy, particularly when using non-US timezones. Use java's classes (and the Ignition `system.date.*` functions). ---
**Author:** ![JordanCClark](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jordancclark/32/83362_2.png) [@JordanCClark](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JordanCClark)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/4 "2022-10-13T13:14:27Z")
The 'T' is not a valid character in system.date.parse(). OffsetDateTime can parse it, though. Then we can convert it to an Instant and then to a Date. ```python from java.time import OffsetDateTime from java.util import Date timeIn = '2022-10-13T18:59:11+11:00' t = OffsetDateTime.parse(timeIn).toInstant() timeOut = Date.from(t) ``` Output for me, since I'm in the Eastern Time Zone ```nohighlight Thu Oct 13 03:59:11 EDT 2022 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Chris.Wyllie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@Chris.Wyllie](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Chris.Wyllie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/5 "2022-10-13T22:14:02Z")
Thank you, for the fresh set of eyes. I should have worked out it was in UTC time; I did even tried applying the %z at one point. Important life lesson don't code past midnight. 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Chris.Wyllie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5fc32e/32.png) [@Chris.Wyllie](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Chris.Wyllie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/6 "2022-10-13T22:15:13Z")
Thank you, this is a clean solution. ---
**Author:** ![david\_sutherland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@david\_sutherland](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/david_sutherland)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-conversion-issue/65156/7 "2024-08-27T15:14:06Z")
Gotta thank you so much for a little blurb you said in another post that stated that Ignition uses java date objects as this allowed me to skip all the super frustrating datetime.strptime() junk when trying to parse a date from a web\_dev call. Once I found that I looked up this post and grabbed the relevant java code and things worked so much easier. Thanks!