How To Check If The Date Is In Mm/Dd/Yyyy Format In Python

How to check if a date is in a specified format is a common task in programming languages, and Python is no exception. In this tutorial, we will learn how to check if a date is in the MM/dd/yyyy format in Python.

We will make use of Python’s built-in library “datetime” to accomplish this task. Follow the steps below, and you will be able to validate the date format.

Step 1: Import the datetime library

First, we need to import Python’s datetime library, which will provide us with the tools necessary to work with dates. Add the following line at the beginning of your Python script to import the datetime module:

1
from datetime import datetime

Step 2: Create a sample date

Next, we will create a sample date string to test if it is in MM/dd/yyyy format. For this tutorial, we’ll use the date “08/25/2021”. Assign this string to a variable, like this:

1
date_string = "08/25/2021"

Step 3: Define a function to check the date format

Now let’s create a function named is_in_format that will take the date string as input and return True if the date is in MM/dd/yyyy format, and False otherwise.

1
2
3
4
5
6
def is_in_format(date_string):
    try:
        datetime.strptime(date_string, "%m/%d/%Y")
        return True
    except ValueError:
        return False

Inside the is_in_format function, we use the strptime method of the datetime class to try to parse the date string according to the given format (MM/dd/yyyy). If the parsing is successful, it means the date string is in the desired format, and the function returns True. If parsing fails, it raises a ValueError exception and the function returns False.

Step 4: Test the function

Now that we have defined our is_in_format function, it’s time to test it with the sample date string we created earlier. Call the function with the date_string variable as an argument, like this:

1
result = is_in_format(date_string)

Then, print the result:

1
print(f"The date string {date_string} is in MM/dd/yyyy format: {result}")

You should see the following output:
The date string 08/25/2021 is in MM/dd/yyyy format: True

Full code

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
from datetime import datetime
 
def is_in_format(date_string):
    try:
        datetime.strptime(date_string, "%m/%d/%Y")
        return True
    except ValueError:
        return False
 
date_string = "08/25/2021"
result = is_in_format(date_string)
print(f"The date string {date_string} is in MM/dd/yyyy format: {result}")

Output

The date string 08/25/2021 is in MM/dd/yyyy format: True

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned how to check if a date string is in the MM/dd/yyyy format using Python’s datetime library. The is_in_format function we defined can be reused to validate other date strings efficiently, helping you avoid incorrect data inputs and improving the reliability of your Python applications.