Calendar Module in Python
Learn the basics of the calendar module in Python.
The Calendar module is a built-in module in Python. It can be imported from the module calendar. It provides functions to work with dates and times. It can be used to generate calendars, and calendar-related operations. You can format the calendar and output it in text or HTML format.
#more
This module uses an idealized calendar i.e. the current Gregorian calendar which is extended in both directions indefinitely. The calendar has the first day of the week as Monday (value - starts from 0) and the last day of the week as Sunday (value - ends at 6).
Let's see how you can use the calendar module in Python.
Display the calendar of the month of the year.¶
import calendar
yy = 2022 # year
mm = 4 # month
print(calendar.month(yy, mm))
# Output:
April 2022
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30
In the above example, the month function takes two arguments, year and month. You get a well-formatted output of the calendar of the month.
Display the calendar of the year.¶
import calendar
yy = 2022 # year
print(calendar.calendar(yy))
# Output:
2022
January February March
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 28 29 30 31
31
April May June
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 3 1 1 2 3 4 5
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
25 26 27 28 29 30 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 28 29 30
30 31
July August September
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 29 30 31 26 27 28 29 30
October November December
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 29 30 26 27 28 29 30 31
31
In the above example, the calendar function takes one argument, year. It returns a well-formatted output of the calendar of the year with proper spacing between the months.
There are three classes in the calendar module. They are Calendar, TextCalendar, and HTMLCalendar. The first two classes are used to generate calendars in text format. The third class is used to generate calendars in HTML format. Let's see how you can use these classes.
Calendar Class¶
The Calendar class creates a calendar object which provides various methods to prepare the calendar data for formatting. Formatting is done by subclasses of the Calendar class but not by the class itself. Let's see how you can use the Calendar class.
1.) The iterweekdays() methods¶
It returns an iterator which is the list of the numbers of the weekdays.
import calendar
cal = calendar.Calendar()
for day in cal.iterweekdays():
print(day, end=' ')
# Output:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
2.) The monthdayscalendar() method¶
It returns a list of full weeks and each week is a list of the days of the month.
import calendar
cal = calendar.Calendar()
for month in cal.monthdayscalendar(2022, 5):
print(month)
# Output:
[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1]
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
[9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]
[16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22]
[23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29]
[30, 31, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
You have seen the two methods of the calendar class but there are more methods. If you want to know more about the methods of the calendar class, you can refer to the official documentation of the calendar class.
TextCalendar Class¶
The TextCalendar class is used to generate calendars in plain text format. This class creates a text calendar object. In this class, you can also edit the calendar. Let's see how you can use the TextCalendar class.
1.) The formatmonth() method¶
It returns a month's calendar in a multi-line string.
import calendar
textcal = calendar.TextCalendar()
year = 2022 # year
month = 5 # month
w = 4 # width of date columns
l = 2 # number of lines per week
print(textcal.formatmonth(year, month, w, l))
# Output:
May 2022
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
The above function takes four arguments, year, month, the width of date columns, and the number of lines per week. It returns a well-formatted output of the calendar of the month.
2.) The prmonth() method¶
It prints a month's calendar as returned by the formatmonth() method. It takes the same arguments as the formatmonth() method. You can change the output by changing the arguments. This method avoids the need for a print statement.
import calendar
textcal.prmonth(year, month, 6, 3)
# Output:
May 2022
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
In the above example, the width of date columns is 6 and the number of lines per week is 3. If you want to know more about the methods of the TextCalendar class, you can refer to the official documentation of the TextCalendar class.
HTMLCalendar Class¶
The HTMLCalendar class is used to generate calendars in HTML format. This class creates an HTML calendar object. Let's see how you can use the HTMLCalendar class.
1.) The formatmonth() method¶
It returns a month's calendar in the form of an HTML table.
import calendar
htmlcal = calendar.HTMLCalendar()
print(htmlcal.formatmonth(2022, 5))
# Output:
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="month">
<tr><th colspan="7" class="month">May 2022</th></tr>
<tr><th class="mon">Mon</th><th class="tue">Tue</th><th class="wed">Wed</th><th class="thu">Thu</th><th class="fri">Fri</th><th class="sat">Sat</th><th class="sun">Sun</th></tr>
<tr><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="sun">1</td></tr>
<tr><td class="mon">2</td><td class="tue">3</td><td class="wed">4</td><td class="thu">5</td><td class="fri">6</td><td class="sat">7</td><td class="sun">8</td></tr>
<tr><td class="mon">9</td><td class="tue">10</td><td class="wed">11</td><td class="thu">12</td><td class="fri">13</td><td class="sat">14</td><td class="sun">15</td></tr>
<tr><td class="mon">16</td><td class="tue">17</td><td class="wed">18</td><td class="thu">19</td><td class="fri">20</td><td class="sat">21</td><td class="sun">22</td></tr>
<tr><td class="mon">23</td><td class="tue">24</td><td class="wed">25</td><td class="thu">26</td><td class="fri">27</td><td class="sat">28</td><td class="sun">29</td></tr>
<tr><td class="mon">30</td><td class="tue">31</td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td><td class="noday"> </td></tr>
</table>
In the above example, the year is 2022 and the month is 5. The formatmonth() method returns a well-formatted HTML calendar of the month. If you want to know more about the methods of the HTMLCalendar class, you can refer to the official documentation of the HTMLCalendar class.
Simple Text Calendar¶
This module provides various useful functions which are different from the above classes. Let's see some of them:
1.) Check for a leap year¶
The isleap() function checks whether the year is a leap year or not. The function takes one argument, the year. It returns True if the year is a leap year and False otherwise.
import calendar
print(calendar.isleap(2022))
# Output:
False
2.) Get the abbreviated weekday names¶
The weekheader() function returns a header that contains abbreviated weekday names. The function takes an argument n, which specifies the width in characters for one weekday.
import calendar
print(calendar.weekheader(3))
# Output:
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
There are various other methods in the module. You can refer to the official documentation for more information.
Conclusion¶
In this tutorial, we have covered the calendar module in Python. The calendar module provides functions to generate calendars in various formats. You can use the calendar module to generate calendars in HTML and text formats. We have also covered the HTMLCalendar class and the TextCalendar class.
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