Date Pattern Options

Date String

There are standard symbols you can use to create a date pattern.

They are used for certain functions in Sintelix, for example, using the transform capabilities in the Structured Import configuration.

Common Symbols

The custom date pattern string can have any number of pre-defined letters and symbols which have their own meaning.

Also, note that the number of repetitions of a letter in the pattern also have different meanings. For example, “MMM” gives “Jan,” whereas “MMMM” gives “January.”

The commonly used symbols are summarised below:

Symbol Meaning Type Example
y Year Number 2024 or 24
M Month of year Number 7 or 07
L Month of year String

L: N

LLL: Nov

LLLL: November

d Day of month Number 21
H Hour of day (0-23) Number 19
m Minutes Number 30
s Seconds Number 55
Common Examples

The following provides example patterns based on the date and time 1:30 PM 3rd August 2024.

dd MMM yy 03 Aug 24
yyyy 2024
dd-MM-yyyy 03-08-2024
d-M-yy 3-8-24
yyyyMMdd 20240803
yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm 2024-08-03 13:30
LLL dd HH:mm:ss yyyy Aug 03 13:30:25 2024
All Symbols

The following provides a complete list of the symbols that can be used in a date pattern:

Symbol Meaning Type Example
G Era String AD; Anno Domini
y Year of era Year 2004 or 04
u Year of era Year Similar to ‘y’ but returns proleptic year.
D Day of year Number 235
M Month of Year Number 7 or 07
L Month of year String J or Jul or July
d Day of month Number 21
Q Quarter of year Number 3 or 03
q Quarter of year String Q3 or 3rd quarter
e / c Localized day of week Number / String 2 or 02; T or Tue or Tuesday
E Day of week String T or Tue or Tuesday
F Week of month Number 3
a am / pm of the day String PM
h Clock hour of am pm (1-12) Number 12
K Hour of am pm (0-11) Number 0
k Clock hour of am pm (1-24) Number 15
H Hour of day (0-23) Number 15
m Minute of hour Number 30
s Second of minute Number 55
S Fraction of second Fraction 978
A Millisecond of day Number 1234
n NaNosecond of second Number 987654321
N NaNosecond of day Number 1234560000
V Time zone ID Zone-id America/Los_Angeles or Z or –08:30
z Time zone name Zone-name Pacific Standard Time or PST
X Zone offsetZfor zero Offset-X Z or –08 or –0830 or –08:30 or –083015 or –08:30:15
x Zone offset Offset-x +0000 or –08 or –0830 or –08:30 or –083015 or –08:30:15
Z Zone offset Offset-Z +0000 or –0800
O Localized zone offset Offset-O GMT+8 or GMT+08:00 or UTC–08:00
p Pad next Pad modifier 1
Advanced Examples

The following provides example patterns based on the date and time 1:30 PM 3rd August 2024 +0930.

EEE LLL dd HH:mm:ss Z yyyy Sat Aug 03 13:30:00 +0930 2024
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX 2024-08-03T13:30:00.000+09:30
yyyy-DDD

2024-216

(216th day of 2024)

eeee, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm a Saturday, August 03, 2024 01:30 PM