How do I display the date, like "Aug 5th", using Python's strftime?

Python's strftime() function doesn't directly support ordinal suffixes like "st", "nd", "rd", and "th". You need to create a custom function to determine the appropriate suffix and combine it with strftime() formatting.

Creating a Suffix Function

First, let's create a helper function that determines the correct ordinal suffix for any day ?

def get_suffix(day):
    if 4 <= day <= 20 or 24 <= day <= 30:
        return "th"
    else:
        return ["st", "nd", "rd"][day % 10 - 1]

# Test the function
for day in [1, 2, 3, 11, 21, 22, 23]:
    print(f"Day {day}: {day}{get_suffix(day)}")

Day 1: 1st
Day 2: 2nd
Day 3: 3rd
Day 11: 11th
Day 21: 21st
Day 22: 22nd
Day 23: 23rd

Formatting Date with Ordinal Suffix

Now combine the suffix function with strftime() to display formatted dates ?

from datetime import datetime

def get_suffix(day):
    if 4 <= day <= 20 or 24 <= day <= 30:
        return "th"
    else:
        return ["st", "nd", "rd"][day % 10 - 1]

now = datetime.now()
formatted_date = now.strftime("%b %d") + get_suffix(now.day)
print(formatted_date)

# Example with specific date
specific_date = datetime(2024, 8, 5)
formatted_specific = specific_date.strftime("%b %d") + get_suffix(specific_date.day)
print(formatted_specific)

Jan 15th
Aug 5th

Complete Date Formatting Function

Here's a reusable function that handles the entire formatting process ?

from datetime import datetime

def format_date_with_suffix(date_obj, format_string="%b %d"):
    def get_suffix(day):
        if 4 <= day <= 20 or 24 <= day <= 30:
            return "th"
        else:
            return ["st", "nd", "rd"][day % 10 - 1]
    
    base_format = date_obj.strftime(format_string)
    return base_format + get_suffix(date_obj.day)

# Examples
today = datetime.now()
birthday = datetime(2024, 12, 22)

print(format_date_with_suffix(today))
print(format_date_with_suffix(birthday, "%B %d"))
print(format_date_with_suffix(datetime(2024, 3, 1), "%A, %B %d"))

Jan 15th
December 22nd
Friday, March 1st

How the Suffix Logic Works

The suffix determination follows English ordinal number rules:

• Days 4-20 and 24-30 use "th"
• Days ending in 1 use "st" (except 11th)
• Days ending in 2 use "nd" (except 12th)
• Days ending in 3 use "rd" (except 13th)

Conclusion

Since strftime() doesn't support ordinal suffixes, create a custom function to determine the suffix and concatenate it with the formatted date. This approach gives you full control over date formatting with proper English ordinals.