Python: Get the date of the last Tuesday

Last update on March 29 2025 12:06:21 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

19. Last Tuesday Finder

Write a Python program to get the date of the last Tuesday.

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

# Import the date class from the datetime module
from datetime import date
# Import the timedelta class from the datetime module
from datetime import timedelta

# Get the current date and assign it to the variable 'today'
today = date.today()

# Calculate the offset needed to go back to the most recent Tuesday
# This is done by finding the difference between the current weekday and Tuesday (1), and taking modulo 7
offset = (today.weekday() - 1) % 7

# Calculate the date of the most recent Tuesday by subtracting the offset from the current date
last_tuesday = today - timedelta(days=offset)

# Print the date of the most recent Tuesday
print(last_tuesday)

Output:

2017-05-02

Explanation:

In the exercise above,

The code imports the "date" class and the "timedelta" class from the "datetime" module.
Get current date:

It retrieves the current date using the "date.today()" method and assigns it to the variable 'today'.

Calculating Offset for most recent Tuesday:

It calculates the offset needed to go back to the most recent Tuesday from the current date.
This is done by finding the difference between the current weekday (today.weekday()) and Tuesday (1, where Monday is 0), then taking modulo 7 to ensure the offset loops back to Tuesday if the current day is Tuesday.

Find the most recent Tuesday:

It calculates the date of the most recent Tuesday by subtracting the calculated offset from the current date using "timedelta(days=offset)".

Finally it prints the date of the most recent Tuesday.

Flowchart:

Python Code Editor:

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