Extract all dates with different format from a text using python

Question

How do I extract all the dates in different format from a text file using python ? For information, the text is written in french.

Ex:

[04/30/2009 blablo 06/20/98 something else 8/2/69 happen in this moment 1/25/2011 maybe this one 9/3/2002 other blablabla Janvier 2005 this year 1974]

PS : I am not able to know all the formats of dates because the function that I seek will have to apply on many texts

Getting the slash-separated dates is quite easy with regex: (\d+)/(\d+)/(\d+) but the textual dates will need precise definitions in order to capture them. — zwer
– zwer, Commented May 16, 2018 at 14:10
If you are not able to know all formats the program won't be either, and also every person who is asked to help you. except perhaps you ask some AI / neural Network People.... but still: you should be able to define what you're searching for — SpghttCd
– SpghttCd, Commented May 16, 2018 at 14:11
Do you have a set of predefined date formats besides the ones you mentioned? — Ankur Sinha
– Ankur Sinha, Commented May 16, 2018 at 14:13

Aaron Brock · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-16 14:16:25Z

1

There's actually a python library for this, albeit in english.

Example (from the github):

string_with_dates = """
...
entries are due by January 4th, 2017 at 8:00pm
...
created 01/15/2005 by ACME Inc. and associates.
...
"""

import datefinder

matches = datefinder.find_dates(string_with_dates)

for match in matches:
    print match

Output:

2017-01-04 20:00:00
2005-01-15 00:00:00

To translate this to french, I'd suggest taking a look at top of this file, at the top of the file there is a big ol' pile of regex in English, this could be translated to French.

answered May 16, 2018 at 14:16

Aaron Brock

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1 Comment

benkam Over a year ago

Thanks @Aaron, but this function extract also some prices. It is not able to make difference between date and other number. ex : 8560$ --> 8560-05-17

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