Count of days of each month from a list of dates python

Question

How can I count the number of days of each month for current year from a list of dates in python. Consider I have a date list as:

10/Mar/2016 06:39:31
16/Nov/2015 06:16:27
16/Dec/2012 06:39:31
16/Dec/2015 06:16:27
9/Mar/2016 06:16:27
15/Nov/2015 06:16:27
15/Mar/2012 06:39:31
15/Nov/2015 06:16:27
15/Sep/2015 06:16:27
15/Jan/2015 06:16:27
16/Feb/2016 06:16:27
16/Jan/2016 06:39:31
16/Feb/2016 06:39:31
15/Feb/2012 06:16:27
12/Mar/2016 06:16:27
16/Nov/2012 06:16:27
8/Jan/2016 06:16:27
10/Mar/2016 06:39:31
16/Nov/2012 06:39:31
16/Nov/2012 06:16:20
7/Mar/2016 06:16:27
15/Nov/2012 06:16:27
16/Jan/2016 06:16:27
16/Oct/2015 06:39:31

Now I want Jan-3 , Feb-2, Mar-5 and so on.

I tried

from datetime import datetime as date_for_conv
if(times> date_for_conv.strptime(times, "%d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S").strftime("2016/Jan/%d")):
    jan+=1

times is the list element iterated in a loop. This gives the count for Jan month only, I want to do it in a single condition check. What should I do?

Answer 1

A simple way to count is to use a dictionary. Add new keys and increment if it exists:

from datetime import datetime
times = ['10/Mar/2016 06:39:31','16/Nov/2015 06:16:27','16/Dec/2012 06:39:31','16/Dec/2015 06:16:27',
         '9/Mar/2016 06:16:27','15/Nov/2015 06:16:27','15/Mar/2012 06:39:31','15/Nov/2015 06:16:27',
         '15/Sep/2015 06:16:27','15/Jan/2015 06:16:27','16/Feb/2016 06:16:27','16/Jan/2016 06:39:31',
         '16/Feb/2016 06:39:31','15/Feb/2012 06:16:27','12/Mar/2016 06:16:27','16/Nov/2012 06:16:27',
         '8/Jan/2016 06:16:27','10/Mar/2016 06:39:31','16/Nov/2012 06:39:31','16/Nov/2012 06:16:20',
         '7/Mar/2016 06:16:27','15/Nov/2012 06:16:27','16/Jan/2016 06:16:27','16/Oct/2015 06:39:31']

counters = {}
for t in times:
    month = datetime.strptime(t, "%d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S").strftime('%b')
    if month in counters:
        counters[month] += 1
    else:
        counters[month] = 1

for k,v in counters.items():
    print('{}-{}'.format(k,v))

This returns:

Oct-1
Dec-2
Mar-6
Jan-4
Feb-3
Sep-1
Nov-7