---
title: "system.date.format"
description: "Returns the given date as a string and formatted according to a pattern."
---

# system.date.format

> Returns the given date as a string and formatted according to a pattern.

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|	 

:::tip Expert Tip
This function uses the Java class [java.text.SimpleDateFormat](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) internally, and will accept any valid format string for that class.
:::

## Client Permission Restrictions
This scripting function has no [Client Permission](projects\project-properties\project-properties.md#client---permissions) 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
```python title="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
```
```python title="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")
```