code: def _read_date(settings_file):
      
      root = ElementTree.parse(settings_file).getroot()
      for e0 in root:
          if e0.tag == 'INFO':
              for e1 in e0:
                  if e1.tag == 'DATE':
                      break
  
      return datetime.strptime(e1.text, '%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S')
docs: Get the data from the settings.xml file
  
      Parameters
      ----------
      settings_file : Path
          path to settings.xml inside open-ephys folder
  
      Returns
      -------
      datetime
          start time of the recordings
  
      Notes
      -----
      The start time is present in the header of each file. This might be useful
      if 'settings.xml' is not present.