import re _ampm_re = re.compile( r'([0-9]|0[0-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-3]):?([0-5][0-9])?\s*([AaPp][Mm]\b)') def _expand_ampm(m): matches = list(m.groups(0)) txt = matches[0] txt = txt if int(matches[1]) == 0 else txt + ' ' + matches[1] if matches[2][0].lower() == 'a': txt += ' a.m.' elif matches[2][0].lower() == 'p': txt += ' p.m.' return txt def normalize_datestime(text): text = re.sub(_ampm_re, _expand_ampm, text) #text = re.sub(r"([0-9]|0[0-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-3]):([0-5][0-9])?", r"\1 \2", text) return text