Convert Time Field (Data Management)

Summary

Transfers date and time values stored in a field to another field. The tool can be used to convert between different field types (text, numeric, or date fields) or to convert the values to a different format such as dd/MM/yy HH:mm:ss to yyyy-MM-dd.

Usage

Caution:

This tool modifies the input data. See Tools that modify or update the input data for more information and strategies to avoid undesired data changes.

• If the input time field is a text or numeric field, select the appropriate format from the Input Time Format parameter.

  Learn more about supported time field formats

• If the Input Time Field parameter value is a text field, custom formats can be added to the Input Time Format parameter.

  Learn more about converting string time values into date format

Parameters

Dialog

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Input Table	The layer or table that contains the field containing the time values that will be converted.	Table View
Input Time Field	The field containing the time values. The field can be of type short, long, float, double, text, or date.	Field
Input Time Format (Optional)	The format of the time values in the Input Time Field parameter value. You can choose a standard time format from the drop-down list or specify a custom format. The parameter is not supported when the input time field is of type date. Note: The format strings are case sensitive. If the data type of the time field is date, no time format is required. If the data type of the time field is numeric (short, long, float, or double), a list of standard numeric time formats is provided in the drop-down list. If the data type of the time field is string, a list of standard string time formats is provided in the drop-down list. For string fields, you can also specify a custom time format. For example, the time values may have been stored in a string field in one of the standard formats such as yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss or in a custom format such as dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss. For the custom format, you can also specify the a.m. or p.m. designator. Some commonly used formats are listed below: yyyy—Year represented by four digits MM—Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months MMM—Month as a three-letter abbreviation dd—Day of month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days ddd—Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation hh—Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock HH—Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock mm—Minutes with leading zero for single-digit minutes ss—Seconds with leading zero for single-digit seconds t—One character time marker string, such as A or P tt—Multicharacter time marker string, such as AM or PM unix_us—Unix time in microseconds unix_ms—Unix time in milliseconds unix_s—Unix time in seconds unix_hex—Unix time in hexadecimal	String
Output Time Field Name	The name of the field to be added in which the converted time values will be stored.	String
Output Time Field Type (Optional)	Specifies the field type of the output time field. Date—The field type will be date. Date fields support date and time values. Text—The field type will be text. Text fields support a string of characters. Long (32-bit integer)—The field type will be long. Long fields support whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647. Short (16-bit integer)—The field type will be short. Short fields support whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767. Double (64-bit floating point)—The field type will be double. Double fields support fractional numbers between -2.2E308 and 1.8E308. Float (32-bit floating point)—The field type will be float. Float fields support fractional numbers between -3.4E38 and 1.2E38.	String
Output Time Format (Optional)	The format of the output time values. Supported output time formats depend on the Output Time Field Type parameter value. A custom format can also be used to convert the value to a different format or to extract a portion of the value (such as the year). For a list of custom formats, see the Input Time Format parameter help. This parameter is not used when the Output Time Field Type parameter value is Date. Note: If the data type of the output time field isn't long enough to store the converted time value, the output value will be truncated.	String

Derived Output

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Updated Input Table	The updated input table.	Table View

Python

arcpy.management.ConvertTimeField(in_table, input_time_field, {input_time_format}, output_time_field, {output_time_type}, {output_time_format})

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_table	The layer or table that contains the field containing the time values that will be converted.	Table View
input_time_field	The field containing the time values. The field can be of type short, long, float, double, text, or date.	Field
input_time_format (Optional)	The format of the time values in the input_time_field parameter value. The parameter is not supported when the input time field is of type date. Note: The format strings are case sensitive. If the data type of the time field is date, no time format is required. If the data type of the time field is numeric (short, long, float, or double), a list of standard numeric time formats is provided in the drop-down list. If the data type of the time field is string, a list of standard string time formats is provided in the drop-down list. For string fields, you can also specify a custom time format. For example, the time values may have been stored in a string field in one of the standard formats such as yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss or in a custom format such as dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss. For the custom format, you can also specify the a.m. or p.m. designator. Some commonly used formats are listed below: yyyy—Year represented by four digits MM—Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months MMM—Month as a three-letter abbreviation dd—Day of month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days ddd—Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation hh—Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock HH—Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock mm—Minutes with leading zero for single-digit minutes ss—Seconds with leading zero for single-digit seconds t—One character time marker string, such as A or P tt—Multicharacter time marker string, such as AM or PM unix_us—Unix time in microseconds unix_ms—Unix time in milliseconds unix_s—Unix time in seconds unix_hex—Unix time in hexadecimal	String
output_time_field	The name of the field to be added in which the converted time values will be stored.	String
output_time_type (Optional)	Specifies the field type of the output time field. DATE—The field type will be date. Date fields support date and time values. TEXT—The field type will be text. Text fields support a string of characters. LONG—The field type will be long. Long fields support whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647. SHORT—The field type will be short. Short fields support whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767. DOUBLE—The field type will be double. Double fields support fractional numbers between -2.2E308 and 1.8E308. FLOAT—The field type will be float. Float fields support fractional numbers between -3.4E38 and 1.2E38.	String
output_time_format (Optional)	The format of the output time values. Supported output time formats depend on the output_time_type parameter value. A custom format can also be used to convert the value to a different format or to extract a portion of the value (such as the year). For a list of custom formats, see the input_time_format parameter help. This parameter is not used when the output_time_type parameter value is DATE. Note: If the data type of the output time field isn't long enough to store the converted time value, the output value will be truncated.	String

Derived Output

Name	Explanation	Data Type
out_table	The updated input table.	Table View

Code sample

ConvertTimeField example 1 (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the ConvertTimeField function in immediate mode.

import arcpy
arcpy.ConvertTimeField_management("C:/Data/TemporalData.gdb/Input_Table","Input_Time","1033;MMMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss;AM;PM","Output_Time")

ConvertTimeField example 2 (stand-alone script)

The following stand-alone script demonstrates how to use the ConvertTimeField function.

# Name: ConvertTimeField_Ex02.py
# Description: Convert a time field to date field
# Requirements: None

# Import system modules
import arcpy

# Set local variables
inTable = "C:\Data\TemporalData.gdb\Input_Table"
inputTimeField = "Input_Time"
inputTimeFormat = "1033;MMMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss;AM;PM"
outputDateField = "Output_Time"

# Execute CalculateEndDate
arcpy.ConvertTimeField_management(inTable, inputTimeField, inputTimeFormat, outputDateField)

Environments

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Licensing information

• Basic: Yes
• Standard: Yes
• Advanced: Yes