Print the current date and time in Python

The datetime module gives you the current date and time. datetime.now() returns the date and the time together, and date.today() returns only the date.

The program

from datetime import date, datetime

now = datetime.now()
print("Now:  ", now)
print("Today:", date.today())

if now.hour < 12:
    greeting = "Good morning"
elif now.hour < 18:
    greeting = "Good afternoon"
else:
    greeting = "Good evening"

print(f"{greeting}. It is {now:%A %d %B %Y, %H:%M}.")

Now:   2026-10-22 14:05:37.512894
Today: 2026-10-22
Good afternoon. It is Thursday 22 October 2026, 14:05.

The output above is from one run. Your output shows the date and time when you run it.

How it works

• datetime.now() reads the computer's clock and returns a datetime object. Printing it shows the date, the time and the microseconds.
• now.hour is a whole number from 0 to 23, so the if chain can choose the greeting.
• {now:%A %d %B %Y, %H:%M} formats the date inside an f-string. The codes after the colon are the same as the ones strftime() uses.
• datetime.now() gives the local time of the computer. For times you save or send to another computer, use datetime.now(timezone.utc) (import timezone from datetime too).

Format codes

strftime() turns a date into text. This example uses a fixed date and time, so the output is always the same:

from datetime import datetime

moment = datetime(2026, 10, 22, 14, 5, 37)  # fixed; use datetime.now() in real use

formats = [
    "%Y-%m-%d",
    "%d/%m/%Y",
    "%A %d %B %Y",
    "%a %d %b",
    "%H:%M:%S",
    "%I:%M %p",
]

for code in formats:
    print(f"{code:<12} {moment.strftime(code)}")

%Y-%m-%d     2026-10-22
%d/%m/%Y     22/10/2026
%A %d %B %Y  Thursday 22 October 2026
%a %d %b     Thu 22 Oct
%H:%M:%S     14:05:37
%I:%M %p     02:05 PM

• %Y is the four-digit year, %m the month number and %d the day, each with a leading zero when needed.
• %A and %B give the full day and month names. %a and %b give the short names.
• %H is the 24-hour clock. %I with %p is the 12-hour clock with AM or PM.
• Day and month names follow the computer's language settings, so on some computers they may not be in English.

To turn text back into a date, see the days between dates program, which uses date.fromisoformat().