Convert Text to Date Time
Converts dates contained in texts to date time values.
Command availability: IBM RPA SaaS and IBM RPA on premises
Description
Converts dates contained in texts to date time values, formatted as "YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss".
Script syntax
IBM RPA's proprietary script language has a syntax similar to other programming languages. The script syntax defines the command's syntax in the script file. You can work with this syntax in IBM RPA Studio's Script mode.
textToDateTime [--culture(String)] --text(String) [--usecustomformat(Boolean)] --customformat(String) (DateTime)=value
Input parameters
The following table displays the list of input parameters available in this command. In the table, you can see the parameter name when working in IBM RPA Studio's Script mode and its Designer mode equivalent label.
| Designer mode label | Script mode name | Required | Accepted variable types | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | culture |
Optional |
Text, Culture |
Language options for conversion. See the culture parameter options |
| Text to convert | text |
Required |
Text |
Text containing the value that should be converted to "Date Time". Visit the Standard Date Time Format Strings  documentation to learn more. |
| Use custom date format | usecustomformat |
Optional |
Boolean |
Enable to use a custom date format to identify the date in the text. |
| Custom format | customformat |
Required when the Use custom date format parameter is enabled |
Text |
Custom date format to identify the date in the text. See the customformat limitations. |
Output parameters
| Designer mode label | Script mode name | Accepted variable types | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date Time | value | Date Time |
Date Time value obtained from the text after conversion. |
culture parameter options
The following table displays the options available for the culture input parameter. The table shows the options available when working in Script mode and the equivalent label in the Designer mode.
| Designer mode label | Script mode name |
|---|---|
| Chinese (zh-CN, zh-TW, zh-Hans, zh-Hant) | zh-CN, zh-TW, zh-Hans, zh-Hant |
| English (en-US) | en-US |
| French (fr-FA, fr-CA) | fr-FA, fr-CA |
| German (de-DE) | de-DE |
| Italian (it-IT) | it-IT |
| Japanese (ja-JP) | ja-JP |
| Korean (ko-KR) | ko-KR |
| Portuguese (pt-PT, pt-BR) | pt-PT, pt-BR |
| Russian (ru-RU) | ru-RU |
| Spanish (es-ES) | es-ES |
Limitations
- If you want to use a custom mask and a format specifier that is related to a culture, you need to supply both mask and culture.
- If you want to use a custom mask that is not related to a culture, leave the
cultureparameter blank.
Example
Example 1: Converts a text using a custom format and returns the Date Time value found.
defVar --name textDateTime --type String --value "14/08/2014"
defVar --name dateTimeConverted --type DateTime
defVar --name customFormat --type String --value "dd/MM/yyyy"
textToDateTime --text "${textDateTime}" --usecustomformat--customformat "${customFormat}" --culture en-US dateTimeConverted=value
logMessage --message "${dateTimeConverted}" --type "Info"
//Returns (2014-08-14 00:00:00).
Example 2: Converts a text without using a custom format and returns the Date Time value found.
defVar --name textDateTime --type String --value "07/15/2024"
defVar --name dateTimeConverted --type DateTime
textToDateTime --text "${textDateTime}" --culture en-US dateTimeConverted=value
logMessage --message "${dateTimeConverted}" --type "Info"
// Returns (2024-07-15 00:00:00).