TODATE

This function only supports compatibility mode dates.

We recommend upgrading any older date fields in your data sources to the new Date or Date & Time types. After upgrading:

• You can use the FORMAT_DATETIME function to format a date as text.
• You can use the PARSE_DATE and PARSE_DATETIME functions to convert text into Date and Date & Time fields.

Learn more.

You can use TODATE in 2 ways:

• Create a compatibility mode date from Text fields.
• Change the display format and granularity of a compatibility mode date.

Sample usage

TODATE(Text_Date,"%Y/%m/%d","%Y-%m-%d")

 

TODATE(Text_Date,"%Y/%m/%d","%Y-%m-%d")

 

TODATE(Response_Time, 'MILLIS', '%Y%m%d')

 

TODATE(Created_Time, 'DECIMAL_DATE', '%Y')

Syntax

TODATE(field_expression, input_date_format, output_date_format)

Input formats

input_date_format is optional if field_expression is correctly configured as a semantic date.

TODATE accepts the following input format strings.

• 'BASIC': %Y/%m/%d-%H:%M:%S

• 'DEFAULT_DASH': %Y-%m-%d [%H:%M:%S]

• 'DEFAULT_SLASH': %Y/%m/%d [%H:%M:%S]

• 'DEFAULT_DECIMAL': %Y%m%d [%H:%M:%S

• 'RFC_1123': for example, Sat, 24 May 2008 20:09:47 GMT

• 'RFC_3339': for example, 2008-05-24T20:09:47Z

• 'SECONDS': seconds since epoch

• 'MILLIS': milliseconds since Epoch

• 'MICROS': microseconds since Epoch

• 'NANOS': nanoseconds since Epoch

• 'JULIAN_DATE': days since Epoch

• 'DECIMAL_DATE': same as 'DEFAULT_DECIMAL'

• Any valid strptime format. Optional if the value is already a datetime field.

Output formats

TODATE accepts the following output format strings:

• "%Y" - year
• "%m" - month
• "%d" - day
• "%W" - yearweek number
• "%w" - day of week
• "%H" - hour
• "%M" - minute

Examples

Example formula	Input	Output
TODATE(Text_Date,"%Y/%m/%d","%Y-%m-%d")	2024/05/09	2024-05-09
TODATE(Response_Time, 'MILLIS', '%Y%m%d')	1715294861000	20240509
TODATE(Created_time, 'DECIMAL_DATE', '%Y')	20240509 [11:34:12]	2024

Notes

TODATE returns compatibility mode Date data types.

Related resources

• Dates and times
• Calculated fields
• Looker Studio function list