Efficient way to convert datetime object to string in Python

Question

I'm converting a datetime column (referred to as DATE) in my Pandas dataframe df to a string of the form 'Ymd' (e.g. '20191201' for December 1st 2019). My current way of doing that is:

import datetime as dt

df['DATE'] = df['DATE'].apply(lambda x: dt.datetime.strftime(x, '%Y%m%d'))

But this is surprisingly inefficient and slow when run on large dataframes with millions of rows. Is there a more efficient alternative I am not seeing? That would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

`df['DATE'].dt.strftime('%Y%m%d')` ...? – Chris Adams Jun 30 '20 at 14:15 — Chris Adams, Jun 30 '20 at 14:15
Why you need to change the datetime object with a string? – framontb Jun 30 '20 at 14:20 — framontb, Jun 30 '20 at 14:20

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '20 at 14:15

1

In pandas you do not need apply

df['Date']=df['DATE'].dt.strftime('%Y%m%d')

answered Jun 30 '20 at 14:15

BENY

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Efficient way to convert datetime object to string in Python

1 Answers1