I do not understand the instructions

Hi Ava! You completed the first challenge successfully.

import datetime

def to_string(datetime):
    return datetime.strftime("%d %B %Y")

Your code takes a datetime object as an argument, and it returns a string. Perfect!

The second challenge asks for a function that takes 2 arguments:

• a date as a string
• an strftime-compatible format string

.. and returns a datetime created from them.

In your code, you passed in an actual string as the first argument:

def from_string("2014 12 2", strftime):

Remember that arguments are kind of like placeholders. You're saying to Python:

"I'm creating this function now. When I call it later, I'm going to pass in arguments.

I'm not sure what they'll be yet, but the first argument will be a date as a string. The second argument will be an strftime-compatible format string."

Therefore, it should look like this:

def from_string(date_as_string, strftime_formatted_string)

When you click "Check Work", the Treehouse code challenge is going to call your function. It will pass in a date as a string. Then it will pass in a string that works as an strftime-compatible format.

The challenge might run your code like this:

from_string("09/24/12 18:30", "%m/%d/%y %H:%M")

Now, you need to return a datetime object created from your arguments- both of which are strings.

This means you need to use the strptime method. Kenneth covers this in the "Dating Methods" video: https://teamtreehouse.com/library/dates-and-times-in-python/dating-methods#transcript

Let me know if you still don't understand. I hope this helps!