How can I compare a date and a datetime in Python?

Question

Here's a little snippet that I'm trying execute:

>>> from datetime import *
>>> item_date = datetime.strptime('7/16/10', "%m/%d/%y")
>>> from_date = date.today()-timedelta(days=3)
>>> print type(item_date)
<type 'datetime.datetime'>
>>> print type(from_date)
<type 'datetime.date'>
>>> if item_date > from_date:
...     print 'item is newer'
...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: can't compare datetime.datetime to datetime.date

I can't seem to compare the date and the datetime values. What would be the best way to compare these? Should I convert the datetime to date or vice-versa? How do i convert between them.

(A small question but it seems to be a little confusing.)

Answer 1

Use the .date() method to convert a datetime to a date:

if item_date.date() > from_date:

Alternatively, you could use datetime.today() instead of date.today(). You could use

from_date = from_date.replace(hour=0, minute=0, second=0, microsecond=0)

to eliminate the time part afterwards.