{time}
Sample Usage
The current time is: {time: HH:mm:ss A} More briefly: {time: h:mm}
The time and date are: {time: ddd, MMM Do, YYYY [at] h:mm A}
Since it is {time: ddd, MMM Do, YYYY}, in 12 days it will be {time: ddd, MMM Do, YYYY; shift=+12D}.
Quick Overview VideoSettings
Setting Name Type Description Positional text The date/time format. at text Set's the date/time. pattern text Format used to interpret at. shift text An optional date/time shift. locale text An optional locale code (e.g. en-us or just en) used to format the time and date. General Command Settings trim yes/no/left/right If yes whitespace is removed before and after the command. If left, only whitespace to the left is removed. If right, only whitespace to the right is removed.
Time/Date Formatting
| Setting Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Positional | text | The date/time format. |
| at | text | Set's the date/time. |
| pattern | text | Format used to interpret at. |
| shift | text | An optional date/time shift. |
| locale | text | An optional locale code (e.g. en-us or just en) used to format the time and date. |
| General Command Settings | ||
| trim | yes/no/left/right | If yes whitespace is removed before and after the command. If left, only whitespace to the left is removed. If right, only whitespace to the right is removed. |
Time/Date Formatting
Text Blaze's time/date formatting syntax allows you to customize the output of your times and dates in various ways. It allows you to mix formatting with tokens that have special meanings.
For example, one way the current date could be entered is MMM Do, YYYY (resulting in the output of Nov 13th, 2017), and the current time could be specified with h:mm (resulting in the output of 11:24).
Text Blaze's time/date formatting syntax is based on Moment, a JavaScript library for parsing and formatting dates.
The following table (adapted from the Moment.js documentation website) contains the full list of support tokens:
| Token | Output |
|---|---|
| Month | |
| M | 1 2 ... 11 12 |
| Mo | 1st 2nd ... 11th 12th |
| MM | 01 02 ... 11 12 |
| MMM | Jan Feb ... Nov Dec |
| MMMM | January February ... November December |
| Quarter | |
| Q | 1 2 3 4 |
| Qo | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th |
| Day of Month | |
| D | 1 2 ... 30 31 |
| Do | 1st 2nd ... 30th 31st |
| DD | 01 02 ... 30 31 |
| Day of Year | |
| DDD | 1 2 ... 364 365 |
| DDDo | 1st 2nd ... 364th 365th |
| DDDD | 001 002 ... 364 365 |
| Day of Week | |
| d | 0 1 ... 5 6 |
| do | 0th 1st ... 5th 6th |
| dd | Su Mo ... Fr Sa |
| ddd | Sun Mon ... Fri Sat |
| dddd | Sunday Monday ... Friday Saturday |
| Day of Week (Locale) | |
| e | 0 1 ... 5 6 |
| Day of Week (ISO) | |
| E | 1 2 ... 6 7 |
| Week of Year | |
| w | 1 2 ... 52 53 |
| wo | 1st 2nd ... 52nd 53rd |
| ww | 01 02 ... 52 53 |
| Week of Year (ISO) | |
| W | 1 2 ... 52 53 |
| Wo | 1st 2nd ... 52nd 53rd |
| WW | 01 02 ... 52 53 |
| Year | |
| YY | 70 71 ... 29 30 |
| YYYY | 1970 1971 ... 2029 2030 |
| AM/PM | |
| A | AM PM |
| a | am pm |
| Hour | |
| H | 0 1 ... 22 23 |
| HH | 00 01 ... 22 23 |
| h | 1 2 ... 11 12 |
| hh | 01 02 ... 11 12 |
| k | 1 2 ... 23 24 |
| kk | 01 02 ... 23 24 |
| Minute | |
| m | 0 1 ... 58 59 |
| mm | 00 01 ... 58 59 |
| Second | |
| s | 0 1 ... 58 59 |
| ss | 00 01 ... 58 59 |
| Locale Formatted | |
| LT | Ex: 7:10 AM |
| LTS | Ex: 7:10:46 AM |
| l | Ex: 9/22/1985 |
| L | Ex: 09/22/1985 |
| ll | Ex: Sept 22, 1985 |
| LL | Ex: September 22, 1985 |
| lll | Ex: Sept 22, 1985 7:10 AM |
| LLL | Ex: September 22, 1985 7:10 AM |
| llll | Ex: Mon, Sept 22, 1985 7:10 AM |
| LLLL | Ex: Monday, September 22, 1985 7:10 AM |
| Unix Timestamp | |
| X | 1360013296 |
| Unix Millisecond Timestamp | |
| x | 1360013296123 |
Setting the Time/Date
The optional at setting allows you to specify the time/date used by the time command. If the at setting is not explicitly set, the current time/date will be used.
Three year later it was: {time: dddd MMM D, YYYY; at=2000-01-01; shift=+3Y}.
The at setting will interpret many common date formats. If the at format does not recognize your date format, or your date format is ambiguous, or you want to specify a time; you can use the pattern setting to tell Text Blaze how to understand your date.
The pattern setting uses the Text Blaze time/date formatting syntax to tell Text Blaze how your time/date is structured.
For example, if your date was 2000-01-01 where you have Year-Month-Day, you would use a pattern of YYYY-MM-DD. If your date was instead Year-Day-Month, you could use the pattern YYYY-DD-MM.
Another example with a different custom formatted date "7 Jan (2012)": {time: ll; at=7 Jan (2012); pattern=D MMM (YYYY)}.
Time/Date Shifting
The optional shift setting lets you display a time/date in either the future or past. A time shift is specified to select a time period relative to the current time.
For example, to show the date 10 days from now, you could use {time: MMM Do, YYYY; shift=+10D}.
If the at setting is specified, any time shifts will be relative to that date.
Shifts are specified in terms of a base period like days or weeks. You can have a fixed shift like +2W (two weeks from the current time) or -5D (five days ago). You can also shift to the beginning or end of any standard date period. For example, <M will shift to the start of the current month, while >Y will shift to the end of the current year.
The following table summarizes the shifts relative to the standard periods.
| Period | Base Period | Example Fixed Shift | Start and End Period Shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seconds | s | 5s | <s and >s |
| Minutes | m | -4m | <m and >m |
| Hours | h | 24h | <h and >h |
| Days | D | 2D | <D and >D |
| Weeks | W | 5W | <W and >W |
| Months | M | -10M | <M and >M |
| Quarters | Q | 1Q | <Q and >Q |
| Years | Y | 3Y | <Y and >Y |
You can also shift forward or backward to a specific day of the week. For example, >MON will shift forward to the nearest Monday. If the current date is a Monday, no shift will take place. <MON will shift backwards to the nearest Monday. Again, if the current date is a Monday, no shift will take place.
| Day | Label | Current or Previous Shift | Current or Following Shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | SUN | <SUN | >SUN |
| Monday | MON | <MON | >MON |
| Tuesday | TUE | <TUE | >TUE |
| Wednesday | WED | <WED | >WED |
| Thursday | THU | <THU | >THU |
| Friday | FRI | <FRI | >FRI |
| Saturday | SAT | <SAT | >SAT |
The following examples show how you might use date shifting to specify specific dates.
The first day of the month was: {time: MMMM D, YYYY; shift=<M} The last day of the month will be: {time: MMMM D, YYYY; shift=>M}
The last Friday of the quarter is: {time: MMMM D, YYYY; shift=>Q <FRI} The first Monday of next year will be: {time: MMMM D, YYYY; shift=+1Y <Y >MON}
When shifting by days, you can skip certain days of the week. For example, if you wanted to shift 10 weekdays into the future you could use the following:
Locales and Localization
It's possible to override the locale for individual {time} commands using the locale setting.
If not specified, {time} command will attempt to use the locale specified in your Text Blaze account settings when formatting the time/date.
A list of available language locales are available in your Account Settings page under the Locale & Formatting header.
In France, we might use: {time: LLLL; locale=fr}
And in China, we might see: {time: LLLL; locale=zh}