How to make an unaware datetime timezone aware in python

Answer #1:

In general, to make a naive datetime timezone-aware, use the localize method:

import datetime
import pytz
unaware = datetime.datetime(2011, 8, 15, 8, 15, 12, 0)
aware = datetime.datetime(2011, 8, 15, 8, 15, 12, 0, pytz.UTC)
now_aware = pytz.utc.localize(unaware)
assert aware == now_aware

For the UTC timezone, it is not really necessary to use localize since there is no daylight savings time calculation to handle:

now_aware = unaware.replace(tzinfo=pytz.UTC)

works. (.replace returns a new datetime; it does not modify unaware.)

Answer #2:

All of these examples use an external module, but you can achieve the same result using just the datetime module, as also presented in this SO answer:

from datetime import datetime
from datetime import timezone
dt = datetime.now()
dt.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
print(dt.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc).isoformat())
'2017-01-12T22:11:31+00:00'

Fewer dependencies and no pytz issues.

NOTE: If you wish to use this with python3 and python2, you can use this as well for the timezone import (hardcoded for UTC):

try:
    from datetime import timezone
    utc = timezone.utc
except ImportError:
    #Hi there python2 user
    class UTC(tzinfo):
        def utcoffset(self, dt):
            return timedelta(0)
        def tzname(self, dt):
            return "UTC"
        def dst(self, dt):
            return timedelta(0)
    utc = UTC()

Answer #3:

I wrote this at Nov 22 2011 , is Pyhton 2 only , never checked if it work on Python 3

I had use from dt_aware to dt_unaware

dt_unaware = dt_aware.replace(tzinfo=None)

and dt_unware to dt_aware

from pytz import timezone
localtz = timezone('Europe/Lisbon')
dt_aware = localtz.localize(dt_unware)

but answer before is also a good solution.

Answer #4:

I use this statement in Django to convert an unaware time to an aware:

from django.utils import timezone
dt_aware = timezone.make_aware(dt_unaware, timezone.get_current_timezone())

Answer #5:

I agree with the previous answers, and is fine if you are ok to start in UTC. But I think it is also a common scenario for people to work with a tz aware value that has a datetime that has a non UTC local timezone.

If you were to just go by name, one would probably infer replace() will be applicable and produce the right datetime aware object. This is not the case.

the replace( tzinfo=… ) seems to be random in its behaviour. It is therefore useless. Do not use this!

localize is the correct function to use. Example:

localdatetime_aware = tz.localize(datetime_nonaware)

Or a more complete example:

import pytz
from datetime import datetime
pytz.timezone('Australia/Melbourne').localize(datetime.now())

gives me a timezone aware datetime value of the current local time:

datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 3, 7, 44, 51, 908574, tzinfo=<DstTzInfo 'Australia/Melbourne' AEDT+11:00:00 DST>)

Answer #6:

Python 3.9 adds the zoneinfo module so now only the standard library is needed!

from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
from datetime import datetime
unaware = datetime(2020, 10, 31, 12)

Attach a timezone:

>>> unaware.replace(tzinfo=ZoneInfo('Asia/Tokyo'))
datetime.datetime(2020, 10, 31, 12, 0, tzinfo=zoneinfo.ZoneInfo(key='Asia/Tokyo'))
>>> str(_)
'2020-10-31 12:00:00+09:00'

Attach the system’s local timezone:

>>> unaware.replace(tzinfo=ZoneInfo('localtime'))
datetime.datetime(2020, 10, 31, 12, 0, tzinfo=zoneinfo.ZoneInfo(key='localtime'))
>>> str(_)
'2020-10-31 12:00:00+01:00'

Subsequently it is properly converted to other timezones:

>>> unaware.replace(tzinfo=ZoneInfo('localtime')).astimezone(ZoneInfo('Asia/Tokyo'))
datetime.datetime(2020, 10, 31, 20, 0, tzinfo=backports.zoneinfo.ZoneInfo(key='Asia/Tokyo'))
>>> str(_)
'2020-10-31 20:00:00+09:00'

Wikipedia list of available time zones

Windows has no system time zone database, so here an extra package is needed:

pip install tzdata

There is a backport to allow use of zoneinfo in Python 3.6 to 3.8:

pip install backports.zoneinfo

Then:

from backports.zoneinfo import ZoneInfo

Answer #7:

Use dateutil.tz.tzlocal() to get the timezone in your usage of datetime.datetime.now() and datetime.datetime.astimezone():

from datetime import datetime
from dateutil import tz
unlocalisedDatetime = datetime.now()
localisedDatetime1 = datetime.now(tz = tz.tzlocal())
localisedDatetime2 = datetime(2017, 6, 24, 12, 24, 36, tz.tzlocal())
localisedDatetime3 = unlocalisedDatetime.astimezone(tz = tz.tzlocal())
localisedDatetime4 = unlocalisedDatetime.replace(tzinfo = tz.tzlocal())

Note that datetime.astimezone will first convert your datetime object to UTC then into the timezone, which is the same as calling datetime.replace with the original timezone information being None.

Answer #8:

This codifies @Sérgio and @unutbu’s answers. It will “just work” with either a pytz.timezone object or an IANA Time Zone string.

def make_tz_aware(dt, tz='UTC', is_dst=None):
    """Add timezone information to a datetime object, only if it is naive."""
    tz = dt.tzinfo or tz
    try:
        tz = pytz.timezone(tz)
    except AttributeError:
        pass
    return tz.localize(dt, is_dst=is_dst)

This seems like what datetime.localize() (or .inform() or .awarify()) should do, accept both strings and timezone objects for the tz argument and default to UTC if no time zone is specified.