How to create a list of times that increment by 15 minutes (AM / PM)

user_18304019 0
Viewed 186

Is there a clean way to generate a list of times starting at 12:00 AM that increments every 15 minutes? Hoping to have the script have the AM / PM functionality and account for the 11:45 AM to 12:00 PM change. Here is an example code found on a previous stackoverflow question.

spacing = 15    # in minutes
lst = [str(i*timedelta(minutes=spacing)) for i in range(24*60//spacing)]
print(lst)

The above code exports as:

['0:00:00', '0:15:00', '0:30:00', '0:45:00', '1:00:00', '1:15:00', '1:30:00']

But the desired output is:

['12:00 AM', '12:15 AM', '12:30 AM', '12:45 AM', '1:00 AM', '1:15 AM', '1:30 AM']
python-3.x list python
3 Answers

You can use .strptime() to convert the timedelta object to a datetime object, and then you can use strftime() to turn that into a string with the desired format:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

lst = [datetime.strptime(str(i*timedelta(minutes=spacing)),
    '%H:%M:%S').strftime('%I:%M %p') for i in range(24*60//spacing)]

This outputs:

['12:00 AM', '12:15 AM', '12:30 AM', '12:45 AM', '01:00 AM', '01:15 AM', '01:30 AM', '01:45 AM', '02:00 AM', '02:15 AM', '02:30 AM', '02:45 AM', '03:00 AM', '03:15 AM', '03:30 AM', '03:45 AM', '04:00 AM', '04:15 AM', '04:30 AM', '04:45 AM', '05:00 AM', '05:15 AM', '05:30 AM', '05:45 AM', '06:00 AM', '06:15 AM', '06:30 AM', '06:45 AM', '07:00 AM', '07:15 AM', '07:30 AM', '07:45 AM', '08:00 AM', '08:15 AM', '08:30 AM', '08:45 AM', '09:00 AM', '09:15 AM', '09:30 AM', '09:45 AM', '10:00 AM', '10:15 AM', '10:30 AM', '10:45 AM', '11:00 AM', '11:15 AM', '11:30 AM', '11:45 AM', '12:00 PM', '12:15 PM', '12:30 PM', '12:45 PM', '01:00 PM', '01:15 PM', '01:30 PM', '01:45 PM', '02:00 PM', '02:15 PM', '02:30 PM', '02:45 PM', '03:00 PM', '03:15 PM', '03:30 PM', '03:45 PM', '04:00 PM', '04:15 PM', '04:30 PM', '04:45 PM', '05:00 PM', '05:15 PM', '05:30 PM', '05:45 PM', '06:00 PM', '06:15 PM', '06:30 PM', '06:45 PM', '07:00 PM', '07:15 PM', '07:30 PM', '07:45 PM', '08:00 PM', '08:15 PM', '08:30 PM', '08:45 PM', '09:00 PM', '09:15 PM', '09:30 PM', '09:45 PM', '10:00 PM', '10:15 PM', '10:30 PM', '10:45 PM', '11:00 PM', '11:15 PM', '11:30 PM', '11:45 PM']
user_177698150

You can format the time string representation of a datetime object, so start from an arbitrary day and format the way you want. See format codes:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta
spacing = 15 # in minutes
current = datetime(2022,1,1) # arbitrary day
lst = [f'{current + timedelta(minutes=m):%I:%M %p}' for m in range(0,24*60,spacing)]
print(lst)

Output:

['12:00 AM', '12:15 AM', '12:30 AM', '12:45 AM', '01:00 AM', '01:15 AM', '01:30 AM', '01:45 AM', '02:00 AM', '02:15 AM', '02:30 AM', '02:45 AM', '03:00 AM', '03:15 AM', '03:30 AM', '03:45 AM', '04:00 AM', '04:15 AM', '04:30 AM', '04:45 AM', '05:00 AM', '05:15 AM', '05:30 AM', '05:45 AM', '06:00 AM', '06:15 AM', '06:30 AM', '06:45 AM', '07:00 AM', '07:15 AM', '07:30 AM', '07:45 AM', '08:00 AM', '08:15 AM', '08:30 AM', '08:45 AM', '09:00 AM', '09:15 AM', '09:30 AM', '09:45 AM', '10:00 AM', '10:15 AM', '10:30 AM', '10:45 AM', '11:00 AM', '11:15 AM', '11:30 AM', '11:45 AM', '12:00 PM', '12:15 PM', '12:30 PM', '12:45 PM', '01:00 PM', '01:15 PM', '01:30 PM', '01:45 PM', '02:00 PM', '02:15 PM', '02:30 PM', '02:45 PM', '03:00 PM', '03:15 PM', '03:30 PM', '03:45 PM', '04:00 PM', '04:15 PM', '04:30 PM', '04:45 PM', '05:00 PM', '05:15 PM', '05:30 PM', '05:45 PM', '06:00 PM', '06:15 PM', '06:30 PM', '06:45 PM', '07:00 PM', '07:15 PM', '07:30 PM', '07:45 PM', '08:00 PM', '08:15 PM', '08:30 PM', '08:45 PM', '09:00 PM', '09:15 PM', '09:30 PM', '09:45 PM', '10:00 PM', '10:15 PM', '10:30 PM', '10:45 PM', '11:00 PM', '11:15 PM', '11:30 PM', '11:45 PM']
user_2356980

The simpler the better in my opinion.

def generateTimestamps():
    l = list()
    hours = ["12"] + [str(h) for h in range(1,12)]
    minutes = ["00", "15", "30", "45"]
    meridiem = ["AM","PM"]
    for e in meridiem:
        for h in hours:
            for m in minutes:
                l.append(h+":"+m+" "+e)
    return l

timestamps = generateTimestamps()

print(timestamps)

Output:

['12:00 AM', '12:15 AM', '12:30 AM', '12:45 AM', '1:00 AM', '1:15 AM', '1:30 AM', '1:45 AM', '2:00 AM', '2:15 AM', '2:30 AM', '2:45 AM', '3:00 AM', '3:15 AM', '3:30 AM', '3:45 AM', '4:00 AM', '4:15 AM', '4:30 AM', '4:45 AM', '5:00 AM', '5:15 AM', '5:30 AM', '5:45 AM', '6:00 AM', '6:15 AM', '6:30 AM', '6:45 AM', '7:00 AM', '7:15 AM', '7:30 AM', '7:45 AM', '8:00 AM', '8:15 AM', '8:30 AM', '8:45 AM', '9:00 AM', '9:15 AM', '9:30 AM', '9:45 AM', '10:00 AM', '10:15 AM', '10:30 AM', '10:45 AM', '11:00 AM', '11:15 AM', '11:30 AM', '11:45 AM', '12:00 PM', '12:15 PM', '12:30 PM', '12:45 PM', '1:00 PM', '1:15 PM', '1:30 PM', '1:45 PM', '2:00 PM', '2:15 PM', '2:30 PM', '2:45 PM', '3:00 PM', '3:15 PM', '3:30 PM', '3:45 PM', '4:00 PM', '4:15 PM', '4:30 PM', '4:45 PM', '5:00 PM', '5:15 PM', '5:30 PM', '5:45 PM', '6:00 PM', '6:15 PM', '6:30 PM', '6:45 PM', '7:00 PM', '7:15 PM', '7:30 PM', '7:45 PM', '8:00 PM', '8:15 PM', '8:30 PM', '8:45 PM', '9:00 PM', '9:15 PM', '9:30 PM', '9:45 PM', '10:00 PM', '10:15 PM', '10:30 PM', '10:45 PM', '11:00 PM', '11:15 PM', '11:30 PM', '11:45 PM']

Bonus: Readability and customization is a lot easier.

user_143345280
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