Have problem getting the correct date format while print

kian hong Tan

Hello, this is the code I use to print the log.

def log(self, txt, dt=None):
    ''' Logging function fot this strategy'''
    dt = dt or self.datas[0].datetime.date(0)
    print('%s, %s' % (dt.isoformat(), txt))

The output:
Starting Portfolio Value: 100000.00
2020-05-04, Close, 8871.96
2020-05-05, Close, 8867.83
2020-05-05, Close, 8901.65
2020-05-05, Close, 8858.35
2020-05-05, Close, 8879.58

However, I wanted the date to be shown as 2020-05-04 16:30:00 (%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S), like how I specified for Data Feed, not just showing date only. Also, how can I change the date to UTC+8?

Many Thanks.

run-out

@kian-hong-Tan said in Have problem getting the correct date format while print:

dt = dt or self.datas[0].datetime.date(0)

When setting dates in backtrader, datetime is used. The first part:

self.datas[0].datetime

gets datetime object. The ending will give the format of date, time, or datetime. The endings are:

datetime(0)  # format is %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
date(0)  # format is %Y-%m-%d
time(0) # format is %H:%M:%S

As a standard procedure, at the beginning of my strategy class next() method, as well as in analyzers and indicators where needed, I put the following code:

# Current bar datetime, date, and time.
dt = self.data.datetime.datetime()
date = self.data.datetime.date()
time = self.data.datetime.time()

This allows me to grab time and date information in an easy, concise, and consistent way during programming.

kian hong Tan

@run-out Tks for clarifying this. Very helpful information! :)