freecodecamp--freecodecamp/curriculum/challenges/english/blocks/daily-coding-challenges-python/69162d64f96574d9bb629f03.md

id, title, challengeType, dashedName

id	title	challengeType	dashedName
69162d64f96574d9bb629f03	Challenge 118: Date Formatter	29	challenge-118

--description--

Given a date in the format "Month day, year", return the date in the format "YYYY-MM-DD".

• The given month will be the full English month name. For example: "January", "February", etc.
• In the return value, pad the month and day with leading zeros if necessary to ensure two digits.

For example, given "December 6, 2025", return "2025-12-06".

--hints--

format_date("December 6, 2025") should return "2025-12-06".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(format_date("December 6, 2025"), "2025-12-06")`)
}})

format_date("January 1, 2000") should return "2000-01-01".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(format_date("January 1, 2000"), "2000-01-01")`)
}})

format_date("November 11, 1111") should return "1111-11-11".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(format_date("November 11, 1111"), "1111-11-11")`)
}})

format_date("September 7, 512") should return "512-09-07".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(format_date("September 7, 512"), "512-09-07")`)
}})

format_date("May 4, 1950") should return "1950-05-04".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(format_date("May 4, 1950"), "1950-05-04")`)
}})

format_date("February 29, 1992") should return "1992-02-29".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(format_date("February 29, 1992"), "1992-02-29")`)
}})

--seed--

--seed-contents--

def format_date(date_string):

    return date_string

--solutions--

def format_date(date_string):
    months = {
        "January": "01",
        "February": "02",
        "March": "03",
        "April": "04",
        "May": "05",
        "June": "06",
        "July": "07",
        "August": "08",
        "September": "09",
        "October": "10",
        "November": "11",
        "December": "12"
    }

    month, day, year = date_string.replace(",", "").split(" ")
    day = day.zfill(2)

    return f"{year}-{months[month]}-{day}"