# xarray.core.accessor_dt.DatetimeAccessor.strftime

#### DatetimeAccessor.strftime(date_format)[[source]](https://github.com/pydata/xarray/blob/main/xarray/core/accessor_dt.py#L366-L397)

Return an array of formatted strings specified by date_format.

The format supports the same string format as the python standard library.
Details of the string format can be found in [python string format doc](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-strptime-behavior).

* **Parameters:**
  **date_format** ([`str`](https://docs.python.org/3/builtins/stdtypes.html#str)) – date format string (e.g. “%Y-%m-%d”)
* **Returns:**
  **formatted strings** (`same type as values`) – Array-like of strings formatted for each element in values

### Examples

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```pycon
>>> import datetime
>>> rng = xr.Dataset({"time": datetime.datetime(2000, 1, 1)})
>>> rng["time"].dt.strftime("%B %d, %Y, %r")
<xarray.DataArray 'strftime' ()> Size: 8B
array('January 01, 2000, 12:00:00 AM', dtype=object)
```

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