Accessing attribute table datetime.datetime field

[BrandonMcAlister]

Hey everyone, 

I have a dataset that has a field in the attribute table that contains datetime information. I am writing a script that selects three layers, copies them, delete extra fields and then exports the tables to an excel file. Everything I have written works correctly but the last bit is what I cannot figure out. The excel file name needs to end with the date the data was last updated. 

Currently in the attribute table there is a field called dataload_date which contains datetime information for when it was last updated. using this code:

field = "dataload_date"

testlist = []

with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(FeatureClass, field) as cursor:
         for row in cursor:

         testlist.append(str(row[0])[0:10])
         print(testlist[0])

This prints out the the date like this 2024-01-31, I need this as a string so I can manipulate it into the correct format for my file name.

I am under the impression that this code is only supposed to access the first row and append that value as a string to position 0 of test list. But it appears it iterates through every row in the dataset and appends it to position 0. 

What am I doing wrong?

Code Sample came from: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/arcpy/data-access/searchcursor-class.htm

[BlakeTerhune]

Use strftime() and the formatting codes to get the date/time formatted however you like.

datetime — Basic date and time types — Python 3.12.2 documentation

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

cursors are designed to be cycled through, but if you want to just get some specific value, you can use one of the cursor methods to do this.  For example, I just want to see the first and last record in a searchcursor and print the values for those records.

import arcpy
fc00 = r"C:/arcpro_npg/Project_npg/npgeom.gdb/Ontario_bounds"
cursor = arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc00, "*")
arr = cursor._as_narray()
frst = arr[0]
last = arr[-1]
print(frst)
print(last)
(1, [7559161.79374897, 1165505.11516148], 1, 20317.03064811, 9434393.51428649)
(205, [6373274.3835835 , 2297409.28244488], 1, 939.16177869, 28359.60787187)

I could get the field names etc, once I have the data, but that is another story.

# I forget the field names

arr.dtype.names
('OBJECTID', 'Shape', 'Diss_fld', 'Shape_Length', 'Shape_Area')

# what is the biggest polygon?

arr['Shape_Area'].max()
Out[20]: 1074121664275.803

# and so on

[BrandonMcAlister]

Thanks Dan that worked perfectly