title: Python: most efficient way to convert date to datetime
body: <p>In Python, I convert a <code>date</code> to <code>datetime</code> by:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>converting from <code>date</code> to <code>string</code></li>
  <li>converting from <code>string</code> to <code>datetime</code></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import datetime
  dt_format="%d%m%Y"
  my_date = datetime.date.today()
  datetime.datetime.strptime(my_date.strftime(dt_format), dt_format)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I suspect this is far from the most efficient way to do this. What is the most efficient way to convert a date to datetime in Python?</p>