Timestamp Filters

A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encoded information identifying when a certain event occurred.

For information on how Xano stores, reads, and formats timestamps, visit the Timestamp page.

to_timestamp

In this example, the timezone UTC is important because 'last Monday' means different things depending on timezone.

t's important to specify a timezone for 'last Monday' because it could 'last Monday' at 00:00:00 PST is different than 'last Monday at 00:00:00 UTC (or any other timezone). Xano stores it in Unix timestamps which is a specific number in milliseconds.

However, if the timezone was present like in this example, then the timezone would not have any effect.

In this example 'now' would be the same Unix timestamp, regardless of timezone. Therefore, a specified timezone like UTC, is not necessary.

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add_ms_to_timestamp

Add milliseconds to a timestamp, (negative values are ok).

This filter will change the timestamp from 1593046644 to 1593546644.

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add_secs_to_timestamp

Add seconds to a timestamp, (negative values are ok).

This filter will change the timestamp from 1593046644 to 1593546644.

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format_timestamp

Converts a timestamp into a human-readable formatted date based on the supplied format.

This format follows the PHP DateTime format: see the full list of formatting options.

Timezone regions are listed here.

Some common examples:

• M is a short text version of a month, like Jul, while m is the numeric version like 07

• Y is the 4 digit representation like 2023, etc. while y is the 2 digit version 23

• To achieve something like May 4th, 2023, you would use: F jS, Y

• Other tools might use something like YYYY-MM-DD, but in Xano, you would use Y-m-d

• See all formatting options here

The “r” format displays the entire date including timezone offset. America/Los_Angeles timezone will have an offset for that timezone. The result would look like: Mon, 09 Nov 2020 17:28:05 -0800

This filter will convert the Unix timestamp to 2020-07-02 16:14:25 using the Y-m-d H:i:s format.

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parse_timestamp

Parse a timestamp from a flexible, human-readable format into a Unix timestamp in milliseconds. This filter is sort of like the opposite of format_timestamp. You can utilize the PHP DateTime Format character list to transform a time format into a Unix timestamp in milliseconds.

In this example, May 4th, 2020 is transformed into a timestamp.

Parse format for May 4th, 2020
F jS, Y

30/03/2024 14:30:00 is parsed into a Unix timestamp in milliseconds

Parse format for 30/03/2024 14:30:00
d/m/Y H:i:s

11-27-22 5:15PM is parsed into a Unix timestamp in milliseconds.

Parse format for 11-27-22 5:15PM
m-d-y g:iA

6/1/22 07:30:00 am will be parsed into a Unix timestamp in milliseconds.

Parse format for 6/1/22 07:30:00 am
n/j/y h:i:s a

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transform_timestamp

This allows you to use relative time formats that are anchored around a previous time. Use the link to see various relative time formats that Xano accepts.

This example is saying last Monday of PST, at the start of the day (00:00:00)

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to_ time since epoch

to_ms / to_seconds / to_mins / to_hours / to_days

Converts a regular expression into number of ms / secs / mins / hours / days since the UNIX epoch.

For example, a value of 'yesterday', 'three days ago' or even a date such as 'January 1, 2000' are all valid inputs for these filters and can help for quick timestamp conversions.