bpo-36138: Clarify docs about converting datetime.timedelta to scalars. (GH-12137)
Be explicit that timedelta division converts an overall duration to the interval
units given by the denominator.
(cherry picked from commit f40b4a0b6277b2779b9ded3736325489f2af93e4)
Co-authored-by: Yasser A <yalshalaan@gmail.com>
diff --git a/Doc/library/datetime.rst b/Doc/library/datetime.rst
index 121f73b..1ee23c2 100644
--- a/Doc/library/datetime.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/datetime.rst
@@ -254,8 +254,9 @@
| | rounded to the nearest multiple of |
| | timedelta.resolution using round-half-to-even.|
+--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
-| ``f = t2 / t3`` | Division (3) of *t2* by *t3*. Returns a |
-| | :class:`float` object. |
+| ``f = t2 / t3`` | Division (3) of overall duration *t2* by |
+| | interval unit *t3*. Returns a :class:`float` |
+| | object. |
+--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
| ``t1 = t2 / f or t1 = t2 / i`` | Delta divided by a float or an int. The result|
| | is rounded to the nearest multiple of |
@@ -351,7 +352,8 @@
.. method:: timedelta.total_seconds()
Return the total number of seconds contained in the duration. Equivalent to
- ``td / timedelta(seconds=1)``.
+ ``td / timedelta(seconds=1)``. For interval units other than seconds, use the
+ division form directly (e.g. ``td / timedelta(microseconds=1)``).
Note that for very large time intervals (greater than 270 years on
most platforms) this method will lose microsecond accuracy.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2019-03-02-00-40-57.bpo-36138.yfjNzG.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2019-03-02-00-40-57.bpo-36138.yfjNzG.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5352bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2019-03-02-00-40-57.bpo-36138.yfjNzG.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Improve documentation about converting datetime.timedelta to scalars.