from datetime import datetime, timedelta
weekdays = ['Monday','Tuesday','Wednesday','Thursday',
'Friday','Saturday','Sunday']
def get_previous_byday(dayname, start_date=None):
if
start_date is None:
start_date = datetime.today()
day_num = start_date.weekday()
day_num_target = weekdays.index(dayname)
days_ago = (7 + day_num - day_num_target) % 7
if
days_ago == 0:
days_ago = 7
target_date = start_date - timedelta(days = days_ago)
return
target_date
print
( datetime.today() )
print
( get_previous_byday('Monday') )
print
( get_previous_byday('Monday', datetime(2016, 8, 28)) )