system.date.format
This function is used in Python Scripting.
Description​
Returns the given date as a string and formatted according to a pattern. The pattern is a format that is full of various placeholders that display different parts of the date. These are case-sensitive. These placeholders can be repeated for a different effect. For example, M will give you 1-12, MM will give you 01-12, MMM will give you Jan-Dec, MMMM will give you January-December. The placeholders are:
| Symbol | Description | Presentation | Examples | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Era designator | Text | G=AD | |
| y | Year | Year | yyyy=1996; yy=96 | Lowercase y is the most commonly used year symbol |
| Y | Week year | Year | YYYY=2009; YY=09 | Capital Y gives the year based on weeks (ie. changes to the new year up to a week early) |
| M | Month in year | Month | MMMM=July; MMM=Jul; MM=07 | |
| w | Week in year | Number | 27 | If Dec31 is mid-week, it will be in week 1 of the next year |
| W | Week in month | Number | 2 | |
| D | Day in year | Number | 189 | |
| d | Day in month | Number | 10 | |
| F | Day of week in month | Number | 2 | 2nd Sunday of the month |
| E | Day name in week | Tex | EEEE=Tuesday; E=Tue | |
| u | Day number of week | Number | 1 | (1 = Monday, ..., 7 = Sunday) |
| a | Am/Pm marker | Text | PM | |
| H | Hour in day (0-23) | Number | 0 | |
| h | Hour in am/pm (1-12) | Number | 12 | |
| k | Hour in day (1-24) | Number | 24 | |
| K | Hour in am/pm (0-11) | Number | 0 | |
| m | Minute in hour | Number | 30 | |
| s | Second in minute | Number | 55 | |
| S | Millisecond | Number | 978 | |
| z | Time zone | General time zone | zzzz=Pacific Standard Time; z=PST | |
| Z | Time zone | RFC 822 time zone | Z=-0800 | |
| X | Time zone | ISO 8601 time zone | X=-08; XX=-0800; XXX=-08:00 |
Expert Tip
This function uses the Java class java.text.SimpleDateFormat internally, and will accept any valid format string for that class.
Client Permission Restrictions​
This scripting function has no Client Permission restrictions.
Syntax​
system.date.format(date, format)
Parameters​
| Type | Parameter | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Date | date | The date to format. |
| String | format | A format string such as "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss". The format argument is optional. The default is "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss". Refer to Data Type Formatting Reference for a table of acceptable symbols. |
Returns​
String - A string representing the formatted datetime.
Scope​
All
Code Examples​
Example #1
# This example would format the current date to look like "01/01/01"
today = system.date.now()
print system.date.format(today, "yy/MM/dd")
#This printed 16/04/01
Example #2
# This example would format the current date to look like "2001-01-31 16:59:59"
# This is a standard format that all databases recognize.
today = system.date.now()
print system.date.format(today, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")