Dates: Format a Date Time
Use this action to select and order date time components to define the formatting of a new date time field.
This ensures that datetime values remain clear and understandable, as different areas of the world have different datetime standards. For example, while using the format 12/06/17 3:00 PM is standard for America, the expected format in Japan is 2017-12-06 15:00.
How to configure this action 
This action uses a simple formatting language to format the date-time. The desired format to convert the date/datetime value to is defined by using a combination of basic date and time components.
| Component | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Y or YYYY | Year | Four digit year, e.g. 1996 |
| YY | Year | Two digit year, e.g. 96 |
| M | Month | One digit month for months below 10, e.g. 4 |
| MM | Month | Two digit month, e.g. 04 |
| MMM | Month | Three letter abbreviation for month, e.g. Apr |
| MMMM | Month | Month spelled out in full, e.g. April |
| Mo | Month | Ordinal number for month, e.g. 4th |
| D | Day of Month | One digit day for day of month below 10, e.g. 2 |
| DD | Day of Month | Two digit day for day of month, e.g. 02 |
| Do | Day of Month | Ordinal number for day of month, e.g. 2nd |
| ddd | Day of Week | Three letter abbreviation for day of week, e.g. Tue |
| dddd | Day of Week | Day of week spelled out in full, e.g. Tuesday |
| h | Hour | One digit hour for hours below 10, in 12 hour clock, e.g. 1-12 |
| hh | Hour | Two digit hour in 12 hour clock, e.g. 01-12 |
| H | Hour | One digit hour for hours below 10, in 24 hour clock, e.g. 0-23 |
| HH | Hour | Two digit hour for hours in 24 hour clock, e.g 00-23 |
| m | Minute | One digit minute for minutes below 10, e.g. 0-59 |
| mm | Minute | Two digit minute, e.g. 00-59 |
| s | Second | One digit second for seconds below 10, e.g. 0-59 |
| ss | Second | Two digit second, e.g. 00-59 |
| A | AM/PM | Include AM or PM |
| Z | Timezone | Include timezone in UTC offset format, from Offset configuration |
| (/) slash | Separator | To separate components |
| (.) period | Separator | To separate components |
| (-) dash | Separator | To separate components |
| ( ) space | Separator | To separate components |
| (,) comma | Separator | To separate components |
| (:) colon | Separator | To separate components |
Fields for this action
-
Input
- A fixed date or datetime value, or a
{{field-names}}reference for a date, datetime, or text field type - When using dates through a fixed value or text field type, acceptable order is month-day-year or year-month-day
- If no UTC offset timezone format (e.g. UTC-6:00 or -6:00 for CST) is included at the end of the input, the system will default to UTC as the timezone for Input
- A fixed date or datetime value, or a
-
Format
- The basic components listed above can be arranged in any order as long as there is only one component per category (e.g. it’s not possible to use two Year components at the same time but it is possible to use a Day of Month component and a Day of Week component together). A separator is required between components. For example:
- MM/DD/YYYY HH:mm A for the result 04/02/1996 09:00 AM
- D/M/Y HH:mm:ss for the result 2/4/1996 09:00:00
- h A dddd MMMM D, YY for the result 9 AM Tuesday April 2, 96
- dddd MMMM Do h:mm Z for the result Tuesday April 2nd 9:00 -06:00
- M-D HH:mm for the result 4-2 09:00
- The basic components listed above can be arranged in any order as long as there is only one component per category (e.g. it’s not possible to use two Year components at the same time but it is possible to use a Day of Month component and a Day of Week component together). A separator is required between components. For example:
-
Offset
- The desired timezone to convert the Input to, represented by the numeric offset from UTC for that timezone in accordance with with this time zone map
- For example, use -5 to convert to the date and time in Chicago or +1 to convert to the date and time in Berlin
-
Return Field Name
- The name of the field in which the result should be saved. The step name is used by default.
What will this output?
The expected output is the date/datetime value converted to the format defined in Format and in the timezone defined by Offset, saved to the field defined in Return Field Name.
Tips
- If the Input is a date value, the Dates: Format a Date Time action will always output a date value. For date-time values, the action will output a date-time value only if the Format defined includes either an hour, minute, or second component. Otherwise, a date value will be output.
- When using Dates: Format a Date Time in conjunction with other Date actions, it is always best to use this action last because of the expected input format for other Date actions. For example - when adjusting a date, it is suggested to first use the Dates: Adjust Date Time action and then the Dates: Format a Date Time action to convert the adjusted result into the desired format.
Thanks for your feedback
We update the Help Center daily, so expect changes soon.
Link Copied
Paste this URL anywhere to link straight to the section.