title: Python - convert string type to datetime type
body: <p>I have a two variables that i want to compare. When printed, this is what they look like:</p>
  <pre><code>2020-05-20 13:01:30
  2020-05-20 14:49:03
  </code></pre>
  <p>However, one is a string type, and the other a datetime type.
  If I want to convert the string one into date type so I can compare them, is the only way to use <code>strptime</code>? Because this seems a little redundant to me, since the string already has the exact format I want it to have. Basically, is there a function that does the same as <code>strptime</code>, but without re-formating it? As you can imagine, googling this problem is impossible, as all I'm getting is people trying to format any kind of string into datetime, so all the answers are just pointing at <code>strptime</code>.</p>