Extracting the date from multiple file names, python

Question

I have a list of CSV file names that I am trying to get the date out of in order to put them into order by date

Heres a snippet of the file names

csse_covid_19_data/csse_covid_19_daily_reports/02-01-2020.csv
csse_covid_19_data/csse_covid_19_daily_reports/01-31-2020.csv
csse_covid_19_data/csse_covid_19_daily_reports/02-02-2020.csv
csse_covid_19_data/csse_covid_19_daily_reports/01-24-2020.csv
csse_covid_19_data/csse_covid_19_daily_reports/01-29-2020.csv

I can get the date from a single file using

a_date_string= all_files[0].split("/")[-1].split(".")[0]
print(a_date_string)

which gives output

02-01-2020

How do I get the code to return all the dates? The code above was given I am just trying to manipulate it to be in order by the dates listed in the file name.

Ive been told a for loop should work. Im new to programming so Im not sure how to implement it. — Collateral Pigeon, Dec 16 '20 at 04:50

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 16 '20 at 04:53

3

dates = [i[-14:-4] for i in all_files]
print(dates)

See if this works for you. This would return a list of those dates.

If any doubts in this snippet let me know in comments.

answered Dec 16 '20 at 04:53

Rishabh Kumar

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This one works too. Thank you! – Collateral Pigeon Dec 16 '20 at 04:56

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 16 '20 at 05:07

2

Since you tagged the question regex, here is a possible solution:

/(\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4})\.csv$

The resulting capture groups will contain the desired dates.

Demo

answered Dec 16 '20 at 05:07

CinCout

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The regex tag was a recommendation. Im not even sure what it means. – Collateral Pigeon Dec 16 '20 at 05:13
@CollateralPigeon Let's get you started: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22944075/2912665 – CinCout Dec 16 '20 at 05:16
1

Ill be looking into this. Thank you! – Collateral Pigeon Dec 16 '20 at 07:10

manjari · Answer 3 · 2020-12-16T04:50:26.937

0

a_date_string=[]
for file_name in all_files:
    a_date_string.append(file_name.split("/")[-1].split(".")[0])
print(a_date_string)

Assuming all_files is a list of all file names

edited Dec 16 '20 at 04:50

answered Dec 16 '20 at 04:39

manjari

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That seems to have worked. – Collateral Pigeon Dec 16 '20 at 04:52

Extracting the date from multiple file names, python

3 Answers3