Format Date

What it does: Converts dates into different display formats for user interfaces, reports, and data export.

Perfect for: User-friendly displays • Report generation • API formatting • Localization

What It Does

• Change date formats - Convert between different date string formats
• Localize dates - Display dates in different languages and regions
• Custom patterns - Create your own date format patterns
• Timezone conversion - Apply timezone changes during formatting

How It Works

graph LR
    A[Raw Date] --> B[Format Date]
    B --> C[Formatted Display]

    style A fill:#e1f5fe
    style B fill:#e8f5e8
    style C fill:#f3e5f5

Simple process: Raw Date → Format Date → User-friendly display

Common Format Examples

• User Friendly: Convert 2024-01-15T14:30:00Z to “January 15, 2024 at 2:30 PM”.
• Short Date: Convert it to “1/15/24”.
• Formal: Convert to “Monday, January 15, 2024”.
• Standard (ISO): Convert “January 15, 2024” back to machine-readable “2024-01-15”.

Format Presets

Preset	Example Output	Best For
"human"	”January 15, 2024 at 2:30 PM”	User interfaces
"short"	”1/15/24”	Compact displays
"medium"	”Jan 15, 2024”	Reports
"long"	”January 15, 2024”	Formal documents
"ISO"	”2024-01-15T14:30:45Z”	APIs and databases
"date_only"	”2024-01-15”	Date without time
"time_only"	”2:30 PM”	Time without date

Custom Format Patterns

Create your own formats using these tokens:

Token	Description	Example
YYYY	4-digit year	2024
MM	2-digit month	01
DD	2-digit day	15
MMMM	Full month name	January
MMM	Short month name	Jan
dddd	Full day name	Monday
HH	24-hour format	14
hh	12-hour format	02
mm	Minutes	30
A	AM/PM	PM

Example custom pattern:

{
  "output_format": "dddd, MMMM D, YYYY [at] h:mm A"
}

Result: “Monday, January 15, 2024 at 2:30 PM”

Localization Examples

English (US):

"January 15, 2024"

French:

"15 janvier 2024"

Spanish:

"15 de enero de 2024"

German:

"15. Januar 2024"

Common Use Cases

User interfaces - Display dates in a friendly format for users Reports and exports - Format dates consistently across documents API responses - Convert dates to required formats for external services Multi-language apps - Show dates in user’s preferred language

Quick Troubleshooting

Format not working: Check that your pattern tokens are correct (YYYY not yyyy) Wrong language: Specify the locale parameter for non-English formats Timezone issues: Set timezone parameter if dates appear in wrong time zone

What’s Next?

Related nodes: Extract Part Of A Date • Get Current Date • Edit Fields

Common workflows: Report Generation • User Interface Display • Multi-language Apps

Learn more: Date Handling Guide • Localization Patterns