["python","datetime","timedelta"]
How to construct a timedelta object from a simple string

I'm writing a function that needs to parse string to a timedelta. The user must enter something like "32m" or "2h32m", or even "4:13" or "5hr34m56s"... Is there a library or something that has this sort of thing already implemented?
For the first format (5hr34m56s), you should parse using regular expressions Here is re-based solution: import re from datetime import timedelta regex = re.compile(r'((?P<hours>\d+?)hr)?((?P<minutes>\d+?)m)?((?P<seconds>\d+?)s)?') def parse_time(time_str): parts = regex.match(time_str) if not parts: return parts = parts.groupdict() time_params = {} for name, param in parts.items(): if param: time_params[name] = int(param) return timedelta(**time_params) >>> from parse_time import parse_time >>> parse_time('12hr') datetime.timedelta(0, 43200) >>> parse_time('12hr5m10s') datetime.timedelta(0, 43510) >>> parse_time('12hr10s') datetime.timedelta(0, 43210) >>> parse_time('10s') datetime.timedelta(0, 10) >>>