parse()

DateParser.parse() is the method most applications should call.

parser.parse(text) -> datetime.datetime | None

Signature

parse(
    text,
    noprefix=False,
    nocharsetfilter=False,
    noseparatorfilter=False,
    noyearformatfilter=False,
    nolanguagefilter=False,
)

Argument	Default	Meaning
text	required	Input string
noprefix	False	Skip prefix-based candidate filtering
nocharsetfilter	False	Skip character-set filtering
noseparatorfilter	False	Skip separator filtering
noyearformatfilter	False	Skip 2-digit vs 4-digit year filtering
nolanguagefilter	False	Skip automatic language narrowing

Leave the no* flags at False unless you are debugging a miss. See troubleshooting.

Return value

• A naive datetime.datetime when a supported pattern matches at index 0 and the components form a valid calendar date.
• None when nothing matches, the string is empty/whitespace, or datetime.datetime(**components) would raise ValueError.

parse() never raises for ordinary bad input.

Behavior notes

• Matching is left-aligned. Trailing text after the date is ignored.
• Optional HH:MM / HH:MM:SS suffixes populate hour, minute, and second.
• Patterns flagged noyear substitute the current year (via match(..., noyear=True), which parse() uses).
• Timezone abbreviations are not applied.

Examples

import datetime
import qddate

parser = qddate.DateParser()
assert parser.parse("01.12.2009") == datetime.datetime(2009, 12, 1)
assert parser.parse("12.03.1999 Hello people") == datetime.datetime(1999, 3, 12)
assert parser.parse("16 May 2009 14:10") == datetime.datetime(2009, 5, 16, 14, 10)
assert parser.parse("totally invalid date") is None

Related

• match()
• Basic usage