# Formatting Date/Time

Dates in the Platform are stored as strings in the [ISO 8601](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601) format, which has the following structure:

`YYYY-MM-ddTHH:mm.ss.SSS`

Examples:

* `2024` — year 2024
* `2023-02` — February 2023
* `2022-04-12` — 12th of April, 2022
* `1987-03-31T04:30` — 31st of March 1987, 4:30 a.m. UTC

Formatting dates has three use cases:

* Setting standard formatting for data structure field
* [Import](https://readme.directual.com/data/import-and-export)
* [Template formatting](https://readme.directual.com/template-system/basics-of-template-system#formatting-date)

#### Examples

|         |            |
| ------- | ---------- |
| DD MMM  | 24 June    |
| DD.MM.Y | 24.06.2023 |

Formatting date/time details: 

| Symbol | Meaning           | Type                     | Mask                           | Example                             |
| ------ | ----------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| C      | Century, AD       | number                   | CC.dd.MM.yyyy                  | 20.31.12.1909                       |
| Y      | Year, AD          | number                   | Y                              | 1996                                |
| w      | Week in a year    | number                   | ww                             | 27                                  |
| e      | Day of a week     | number                   | e                              | 2                                   |
| E      | Day of a week     | text                     | <p>EEEE</p><p>E</p>            | <p>Tuesday</p><p>Tue</p>            |
| y      | Year              | number                   | y                              | 1996                                |
| D      | Day in a year     | number                   | D                              | 189                                 |
| M      | Month in a year   | <p>text</p><p>number</p> | <p>MMMM</p><p>MMM</p><p>MM</p> | <p>July</p><p>Jul</p><p>07</p>      |
| d      | Day in a month    | number                   | dd                             | 31                                  |
| a      | AM/PM             | text                     | <p>a </p><p>a</p>              | <p>AM </p><p>PM</p>                 |
| H      | Hour (0\~23)      | number                   | H                              | 0                                   |
| m      | Minute            | number                   | mm                             | 36                                  |
| s      | Second            | number                   | ss                             | 25                                  |
| S      | millisecond       | number                   | SSS                            | 783                                 |
| z      | Time zone         | text                     | z                              | Pacific Standard Time; PST          |
| Z      | Time zone / shift | text                     | Z                              | -0800; -08:00; America/Los\_Angeles |

### Formatting *date* field type

![](https://3071851461-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M4Nnmtk9_gFGWOddsf6%2F-M_5M7wl0j1M4WVmLFGd%2F-M_5NZQQVQ8kNWLBte0E%2Fdate.png?alt=media\&token=2b42481e-c7de-4d47-abef-ae3a9920e7b7)

Time constraints field:

```javascript
{
   "hours": {
      "min": 1,
      "max": 15,
      "step": 3
   },
   "minutes": {
      "min": 10,
      "max": 30,
      "step": 20
   }
}
```

{% hint style="info" %}
Remember, these constraints only affect web page components and user input in the platform. Scenarios and API calls are **not limited.**
{% endhint %}

### Time zones

Dates are stored in the UTC format. If you select 'use user's local time zone' in settings, the platform's interface and web-page builder-based apps will automatically use the user's browser time zone. However, when working with dates in scenarios, you must manage the time zone manually using the `moment({{your_date}}).zone(Z).format();`function, where `Z` represents the timezone offset, such as `-3` or `+10` .