ValueError: '%' is a bad directive in format '%d%^b%y'-CodePudding

I am trying to convert string to datetime. The string syntax is 30JUN21.

Code:

df.column = pd.to_datetime(df.column, , format='%d%^b%y')

Error:

ValueError: '%' is a bad directive in format '%d%^b%y'

I am pretty sure this error relates to the caret. I don't know another way around the upper case month abbreviations.

See https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-behavior.

CodePudding user response：

try this:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame([("Date1","NewDate")],columns=["30JUN21","30MAR22"])

df.columns = [pd.to_datetime(column, format='%d%b%y') for column in df.columns]
print(df)

output:

  2021-06-30 2022-03-30

0      Date1    NewDate

CodePudding user response：

This issue is that directives are case sensitive. I received the data in upper case. The following code resolved the issue.

df.column = pd.to_datetime(df.column.title(), format='%d%b%y')