https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/282e88506b1d3c2ea2a0fd2fbce6c4e27ddc1c92
commit: 282e88506b1d3c2ea2a0fd2fbce6c4e27ddc1c92
branch: main
author: Kentaro Jay Takahashi <[email protected]>
committer: emmatyping <[email protected]>
date: 2025-08-22T16:52:30-07:00
summary:

gh-133125: Clarify ZipInfo.date_time attribute documentation (#136082)

Specifically, clarify that ZipInfo.date_time pulls the datetime information 
from the central directory, and that times are interpreted as local time.

Co-authored-by: Emma Smith <[email protected]>

files:
M Doc/library/zipfile.rst

diff --git a/Doc/library/zipfile.rst b/Doc/library/zipfile.rst
index a1261ec471c92e..f6ec33640b60d2 100644
--- a/Doc/library/zipfile.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/zipfile.rst
@@ -830,7 +830,10 @@ Instances have the following methods and attributes:
 .. attribute:: ZipInfo.date_time
 
    The time and date of the last modification to the archive member.  This is a
-   tuple of six values:
+   tuple of six values representing the "last [modified] file time" and "last 
[modified] file date"
+   fields from the ZIP file's central directory.
+
+   The tuple contains:
 
    +-------+--------------------------+
    | Index | Value                    |
@@ -850,7 +853,15 @@ Instances have the following methods and attributes:
 
    .. note::
 
-      The ZIP file format does not support timestamps before 1980.
+      The ZIP format supports multiple timestamp fields in different locations
+      (central directory, extra fields for NTFS/UNIX systems, etc.). This 
attribute
+      specifically returns the timestamp from the central directory. The 
central
+      directory timestamp format in ZIP files does not support timestamps 
before
+      1980. While some extra field formats (such as UNIX timestamps) can 
represent
+      earlier dates, this attribute only returns the central directory 
timestamp.
+
+      The central directory timestamp is interpreted as representing local
+      time, rather than UTC time, to match the behavior of other zip tools.
 
 
 .. attribute:: ZipInfo.compress_type

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