Generate a random date between two other dates

Question

How would I generate a random date that has to be between two other given dates?

The function's signature should something like this:

randomDate("1/1/2008 1:30 PM", "1/1/2009 4:50 AM", 0.34)
                  ^                       ^          ^

           date generated has   date generated has a random number
           to be after this     to be before this

and would return a date such as: 2/4/2008 7:20 PM

Answer 1

Use ApacheCommonUtils to generate a random long within a given range, and then create Date out of that long.

Example:

import org.apache.commons.math.random.RandomData;

import org.apache.commons.math.random.RandomDataImpl;

public Date nextDate(Date min, Date max) {

RandomData randomData = new RandomDataImpl();

return new Date(randomData.nextLong(min.getTime(), max.getTime()));

}

Answer 2

Updated answer

It's even more simple using Faker.

Installation

pip install faker

Usage:

from faker import Faker
fake = Faker()

fake.date_between(start_date='today', end_date='+30y')
# datetime.date(2025, 3, 12)

fake.date_time_between(start_date='-30y', end_date='now')
# datetime.datetime(2007, 2, 28, 11, 28, 16)

# Or if you need a more specific date boundaries, provide the start 
# and end dates explicitly.
import datetime
start_date = datetime.date(year=2015, month=1, day=1)
fake.date_between(start_date=start_date, end_date='+30y')

Old answer

It's very simple using radar

Installation

pip install radar

Usage

import datetime

import radar 

# Generate random datetime (parsing dates from str values)
radar.random_datetime(start='2000-05-24', stop='2013-05-24T23:59:59')

# Generate random datetime from datetime.datetime values
radar.random_datetime(
    start = datetime.datetime(year=2000, month=5, day=24),
    stop = datetime.datetime(year=2013, month=5, day=24)
)

# Just render some random datetime. If no range is given, start defaults to 
# 1970-01-01 and stop defaults to datetime.datetime.now()
radar.random_datetime()

Answer 3

To chip in a pandas-based solution I use:

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

def random_date(start, end, position=None):
    start, end = pd.Timestamp(start), pd.Timestamp(end)
    delta = (end - start).total_seconds()
    if position is None:
        offset = np.random.uniform(0., delta)
    else:
        offset = position * delta
    offset = pd.offsets.Second(offset)
    t = start + offset
    return t

I like it, because of the nice pd.Timestamp features that allow me to throw different stuff and formats at it. Consider the following few examples...

Your signature.

>>> random_date(start="1/1/2008 1:30 PM", end="1/1/2009 4:50 AM", position=0.34)
Timestamp('2008-05-04 21:06:48', tz=None)

Random position.

>>> random_date(start="1/1/2008 1:30 PM", end="1/1/2009 4:50 AM")
Timestamp('2008-10-21 05:30:10', tz=None)

Different format.

>>> random_date('2008-01-01 13:30', '2009-01-01 4:50')
Timestamp('2008-11-18 17:20:19', tz=None)

Passing pandas/datetime objects directly.

>>> random_date(pd.datetime.now(), pd.datetime.now() + pd.offsets.Hour(3))
Timestamp('2014-03-06 14:51:16.035965', tz=None)

Answer 4

It's modified method of @(Tom Alsberg). I modified it to get date with milliseconds.

import random
import time
import datetime

def random_date(start_time_string, end_time_string, format_string, random_number):
    """
    Get a time at a proportion of a range of two formatted times.
    start and end should be strings specifying times formated in the
    given format (strftime-style), giving an interval [start, end].
    prop specifies how a proportion of the interval to be taken after
    start.  The returned time will be in the specified format.
    """
    dt_start = datetime.datetime.strptime(start_time_string, format_string)
    dt_end = datetime.datetime.strptime(end_time_string, format_string)

    start_time = time.mktime(dt_start.timetuple()) + dt_start.microsecond / 1000000.0
    end_time = time.mktime(dt_end.timetuple()) + dt_end.microsecond / 1000000.0

    random_time = start_time + random_number * (end_time - start_time)

    return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(random_time).strftime(format_string)

Example:

print TestData.TestData.random_date("2000/01/01 00:00:00.000000", "2049/12/31 23:59:59.999999", '%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S.%f', random.random())

Output: 2028/07/08 12:34:49.977963

Answer 5

1. Convert your input dates to numbers (int, float, whatever is best for your usage)
2. Choose a number between your two date numbers.
3. Convert this number back to a date.

Many algorithms for converting date to and from numbers are already available in many operating systems.

Answer 6

Convert both strings to timestamps (in your chosen resolution, e.g. milliseconds, seconds, hours, days, whatever), subtract the earlier from the later, multiply your random number (assuming it is distributed in the range [0, 1]) with that difference, and add again to the earlier one. Convert the timestamp back to date string and you have a random time in that range.

Python example (output is almost in the format you specified, other than 0 padding - blame the American time format conventions):

import random
import time

def strTimeProp(start, end, format, prop):
    """Get a time at a proportion of a range of two formatted times.

    start and end should be strings specifying times formated in the
    given format (strftime-style), giving an interval [start, end].
    prop specifies how a proportion of the interval to be taken after
    start.  The returned time will be in the specified format.
    """

    stime = time.mktime(time.strptime(start, format))
    etime = time.mktime(time.strptime(end, format))

    ptime = stime + prop * (etime - stime)

    return time.strftime(format, time.localtime(ptime))


def randomDate(start, end, prop):
    return strTimeProp(start, end, '%m/%d/%Y %I:%M %p', prop)

print randomDate("1/1/2008 1:30 PM", "1/1/2009 4:50 AM", random.random())