DateFormat

The DateFormat function evaluates a date value and extracts datetime components (as text strings) in the specified format.

Syntax

DateFormat(date, format)

Function arguments:

date(required) The date or column of date values to evaluate.
format(required) The datetime components (as a datetime format string) to extract.

Compatible format specifiers

The DateFormat function uses the datetime formatting functionality of the connected data platform (see Notes). The following format specifiers are supported by most connections and can be used to build the datetime format string.

FormatDescriptionExample output
(for 2018-07-08 00:34:59)
%YFour-digit year2018
%yTwo-digit year18
%qQuarter of the year (1–4)3
%mTwo-digit month07
%BFull month nameJuly
%bAbbreviated month nameJul
%AFull day of weekSunday
%aAbbreviated day of weekSun
%dTwo-digit day of month (01-31)08
%HTwo-digit hour based on 24-hour clock (00–23)00
%ITwo-digit hour based on 12-hour clock (01–12)12
%MTwo-digit minutes (00–59)34
%STwo-digit seconds (00–59)59
%pAM or PMAM
%LThree-digit milliseconds (000–999)000
%fSix-digit microseconds (000000–999999)000000
%ZTime zone offset-07:00
%%Percent symbol%

Notes

  • DateFormat can only output formats that are supported by your connected data platform. For example, passing %A to the format argument typically returns the full day of the week (e.g. Sunday, Monday). However, on Snowflake connections, this will return the abbreviated day of week format (e.g. Sun, Mon) equivalent to %a. This is because Snowflake does not support a full day of week.

Examples

Example 1

DateFormat(Date("2018-07-23"), "%B")

Evaluates the date value "2018-07-23" and returns the full month name, July.

Example 2

DateFormat(\[Date\], "%a, %B %d, %Y")

Evaluates date values in the Date column and returns text strings formatted to include the abbreviated weekday name, full month name, two-digit day of the month, and four-digit year, with commas following the weekday name and day of the month.