from datetime import datetime


def strpdate(string, format):
    """Parse the date string according to the format in `format`.  Returns a
    :class:`date` object.  Internally, :meth:`datetime.strptime` is used to
    parse the string and thus conversion specifiers for time fields (e.g. `%H`)
    may be provided;  these will be parsed but ignored.

    Args:
        string (str): The date string to be parsed.
        format (str): The `strptime`_-style date format string.
    Returns:
        datetime.date

    .. _`strptime`: https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#strftime-strptime-behavior

    >>> strpdate('2016-02-14', '%Y-%m-%d')
    datetime.date(2016, 2, 14)
    >>> strpdate('26/12 (2015)', '%d/%m (%Y)')
    datetime.date(2015, 12, 26)
    >>> strpdate('20151231 23:59:59', '%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S')
    datetime.date(2015, 12, 31)
    >>> strpdate('20160101 00:00:00.001', '%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S.%f')
    datetime.date(2016, 1, 1)
    """
    whence = datetime.strptime(string, format)
    return whence.date()