Question

What would be the best way to see if the current time lies between say 10:30 AM and 4:30 PM.

I could think of the following, not sure how correct:

from datetime import datetime
nw = datetime.now()
hrs = nw.hour;mins = nw.minute;secs = nw.second;
zero = timedelta(seconds = secs+mins*60+hrs*3600)
st = nw - zero # this take me to 0 hours. 
time1 = st + timedelta(seconds=10*3600+30*60) # this gives 10:30 AM
time2 = st + timedelta(seconds=16*3600+30*60)  # this gives 4:30 PM
if nw>= time1 or nw <= time2:
    print "yes, within the interval"

Please let me know if this the correct approach, can something better be written?

Answer 1

My original answer focused very specifically on the question as posed and didn’t accommodate time ranges that span midnight. As this is still the accepted answer 6 years later, I’ve incorporated @rouble’s answer below that expanded on mine to support midnight.

from datetime import datetime, time

def is_time_between(begin_time, end_time, check_time=None):
    # If check time is not given, default to current UTC time
    check_time = check_time or datetime.utcnow().time()
    if begin_time < end_time:
        return check_time >= begin_time and check_time <= end_time
    else: # crosses midnight
        return check_time >= begin_time or check_time <= end_time

# Original test case from OP
is_time_between(time(10,30), time(16,30))

# Test case when range crosses midnight
is_time_between(time(22,0), time(4,00))

I still stick to my original comment below that most applications of this logic would probably be better suited with datetime objects where crossing midnight is reflected as a date change anyway.