Proper coding with date formats

[Williams_Gregory]

arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(points, 'points_layer', """ "Installa_1" >= '01/01/2010' """)

I'm new to Python and I have been trying to figure this out this line of code all day and its driving me crazy.  I keep getting an "ERROR 000358: Invalid expression  "Installa_1" >= '01/01/2010'  ".  The data field is in DATE format.  What is the proper way to query arcmap data by date.  I guess I'm missing something, regular SQL coding was never this bad.  If there is some special function I can Google the details.

Thanks,

[RandyBurton · Accepted solution]

Try this format:

""" "Installa_1" >= DATE '2010-01-01'‍‍ """‍‍‍

What type of geodatabase are you working with?  The query syntax can vary between various systems.  See: SQL reference for query expressions used in ArcGIS

EDIT:

I did some additional tests with a file geodatabase.  It seems that how the field is quoted (single, double or none) also has an effect.

# using a file geodatabase with desktop 10.5, the following also worked

""" 'Installa_1' >= '01/01/2010' """

"'Installa_1' >= '01/01/2010'"

"Installa_1 >= DATE '01/01/2010'"

"Installa_1 >= DATE '2010/01/01'" # I generally use this format


# the following failed

""" "Installa_1" >= '01/01/2010' """

"Installa_1 >= '01/01/2010'"‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

[Williams_Gregory]

Thank you Randy for restoring my sanity! The first example with DATE fixed the problem.  I figured it would be a simple fix. The data was from a shapefile so I guess that is why the other examples you listed did not work.  Thanks also for the SQL reference link!