zope.datetime

6.0 verified Mon Apr 27 auth: no python

Zope datetime provides timezone-aware datetime utilities, including timezone definitions and datetime parsing from common HTTP/email formats. Version 6.0 supports Python >=3.9 and is released periodically as part of the Zope Foundation libraries.

pip install zope.datetime

Common errors

error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'zope.datetime' ↓

cause Package installed as 'zope-datetime' but import path is 'zope.datetime'.

fix

Install the correct package: pip install zope-datetime

error AttributeError: module 'zope.datetime' has no attribute 'parse_datetime' ↓

cause Function name is parseDatetimetz (CamelCase), not parse_datetime.

fix

Use: from zope.datetime import parseDatetimetz

error ValueError: unknown timezone offset ↓

cause Parsing a timezone offset like 'Europe/Berlin' that isn't an integer offset.

fix

The function parseDatetimetz only handles ±HHMM offsets, not named timezones. Pre-process with pytz or zoneinfo.

Warnings

breaking Version 6.0 requires Python >=3.9 and may have changed internal timezone handling. Code relying on pytz objects might break if now using zoneinfo. ↓

fix Ensure compatibility: if using pytz, convert to zoneinfo or keep using pytz, but test edge cases.

gotcha Function parseDatetimetz does NOT parse all ISO 8601 strings; it only handles a subset (RFC 2822, RFC 850, ANSI C, and a few others). ↓

fix Use dateutil.parser.isoparse or datetime.fromisoformat for general ISO 8601 parsing.

deprecated The module zope.datetime may be considered legacy; for new projects consider using dateutil or built-in zoneinfo (Python 3.9+). ↓

fix Migrate to dateutil or built-in module.

Imports

parseDatetimetz

wrong

from zope.datetime import parse_datetime

correct

from zope.datetime import parseDatetimetz

Function name uses CamelCase

RFC850

wrong

from zope.datetime import rfc850

correct

from zope.datetime import RFC850

Constant name is uppercase

ZoneInfo

wrong

from zope.datetime import Timezone

correct

from zope.datetime import ZoneInfo

Class name is ZoneInfo not Timezone

Quickstart

Parse datetime strings using common formats.

from zope.datetime import parseDatetimetz
from datetime import datetime

# Parse an HTTP-date (RFC 1123)
dt = parseDatetimetz('Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT')
print(dt)  # timezone-aware datetime

# Parse a datetime with timezone offset
dt2 = parseDatetimetz('2026-04-27T12:00:00+02:00')
print(dt2)