Python dates & times example

time_example.py

from datetime import datetime
import pytz  # Probably need to install this one on your system
import dateutil.parser

# An example timestamp string
timestamp = "2014-12-12T08:51:06.082327-05:00"

# Convert the string to a datetime object
timestamp_obj = dateutil.parser.parse(timestamp)

# If there was no time zone information in the string, assume it's UTC
if timestamp_obj.tzinfo is None:
    timestamp_obj = (pytz.timezone('UTC')).localize(timestamp_obj)

# Format as you wish
timezone = pytz.timezone('America/New_York')
format_string = '%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S (%Z)'
print 'Pretty:', timestamp_obj.astimezone(timezone).strftime(format_string)

# Format as ISO
print 'ISO 8601-ish:', timestamp_obj.astimezone(timezone).isoformat()