Python Get Business Days

In this Python tutorial, I will show you exactly how to calculate the business days between two dates. Also, you’ll learn how to count business days excluding weekends and holidays.

Also, see How to get the number of days between two dates in Python.

How to get business days between two dates in Python

Example: Get business days between two dates

import datetime
import numpy as np

start = datetime.date(2022, 3, 15)
end = datetime.date(2022, 4, 16)

days = np.busday_count(start, end)
print('Number of business days is:', days)

Output:

Number of business days is: 24

Note:

The busday_count() function doesn’t include the day of end dates.

Also, there may be a case in which dates are in a string format, so you might consider converting both date strings to a datetime object before calculating the business days.

But, The busday_count() function accepts strings also, so it is unnecessary to instantiate datetime objects before calling busday_count(); instead, you can directly pass date strings.

Example:

import numpy as np

# dates in string format
# start date and end date
start = '2022-03-15'
end = '2022-04-16'

days = np.busday_count(start, end)
print('Number of business days is:', days)

Output:

Number of business days is: 24

Get business days (weekdays) between two dates without numpy

What to do if you don’t want to use the numpy library just for the busday_count() function? In this case, you can use Python generators and yield to write a custom function to get the count of weekdays between two dates.

Steps:

• First, iterate from the start date to the end date by one day using a for loop and range() function.
• Use the weekday() function to check if the day is weekday or weekend.
• If it is a weekday, then add it to the count.
• Print the final count.

Example:

from datetime import date, timedelta

start = date(2022, 3, 15)
end = date(2022, 4, 16)

# get list of all days
all_days = (start + timedelta(x + 1) for x in range((end - start).days))

# filter business days
# weekday from 0 to 4. 0 is monday adn 4 is friday
# increase counter in each iteration if it is a weekday
count = sum(1 for day in all_days if day.weekday() < 5)
print('Number of business days is:', count)

Output:

Number of business days is: 23

Get business days excluding weekends and holidays

The busday_count() function has the option to add public holidays as well so that it can’t get included in the final count of business days.

Example:

import datetime
import numpy as np

start = datetime.date(2022, 2, 15)
end = datetime.date(2022, 3, 16)

# include holidays in a list
days = np.busday_count(start, end, holidays=['2022-02-21'])
print('Number of business days is:', days)

Output:

Number of business days is: 20

Get all business days in a month

To get the number of weekdays in a specific month, we need to use the busday_count() function of a numpy module. Pass the start date and end date to the busday_count() in a yyyy-mm format.

Example:

import numpy as np

# Number of weekdays in April 2022
res = np.busday_count('2022-04', '2022-05')
print("Number of business days in April 2022:", res)

Output:

Number of business days in April 2022: 21

Get the last business day of a month

Use the calendar module to get the last business day of a month.

• Use the monthcalendar() function of a calendar module that returns a matrix representing a month’s calendar.
• Next, filter the result by including only the days from number 0 to 5, i.e., weekdays.
• In the end. Pick the last day from the filtered list.

Example:

import calendar

last_day = max(calendar.monthcalendar(2022, 4)[-1:][0][:5])
print('Last business day April 2022:', last_day)

Output:

Last business day April 2022: 29