Simple cron-like parser for Python, which determines if current datetime matches conditions.
pip install pycron
import pycron
pycron.is_now('*/5 * * * *') # True every 5 minutes
pycron.is_now('0 * * * *') # True every hour, on minute 0
The formats currently supported are
*/5
(for "every X" function),4-10
(for time ranges),6,8,23
(for a list of values),*
(for wildcard),- and of course a single number.
The module includes is_now(s, dt=None)
, where s
is the cron-style string
and dt
is the datetime to use (defaults to current datetime, if not set).
The function returns True
, if dt
matches the format.
It also includes has_been(s, since, dt=None)
, where s
is the cron-style string,
since
is a datetime in the past and dt
is the datetime to use (defaults to current datetime, if not set).
The function returns True
, if dt
would have matched the format at some point during the period.
This behaves much like like anacron and is useful for applications which do not run continuously.
All functions are compatible with both timezone aware and naive datetimes.
There are couple of helpers available, mainly for use with Django. They give out list of tuples, as required by Django field choices.
The available helpers are
pycron.MINUTE_CHOICES
,pycron.HOUR_CHOICES
,pycron.DOM_CHOICES
, for day of monthpycron.MONTH_CHOICES
, for month namespycron.DOW_CHOICES
, for day names
Currently supported "alternative" datetime libraries are:
This was done, as I personally needed something like this to implement proper timers for my Django-project and every available library felt too complicated for my use-case. Also, this was a good coding exercise...
As the Django -helper choices are quite limited, I've expanded them in my own project by adding values like
('*/5', 'every 5 minutes')
, ('1-5', 'on weekdays')
, and ('0,6', 'on weekends')
.
I haven't included them in the code, as every use-case is different, this was just to give an idea on how to use this ;)