ee.Date.format

  • ee.Date.format() converts an Earth Engine Date object to a formatted string representation.

  • The format argument uses Joda-Time formatting patterns for customization.

  • The timeZone argument, if provided, adjusts the output to the specified time zone; defaults to UTC.

  • If format is omitted, the ISO standard date formatting is used.

  • Joda-Time formatting patterns provide flexible options to display various date and time components, including year, month, day, hour, minute, second, time zone, and more.

 Convert a date to string.

UsageReturns
Date.format(format, timeZone)String
ArgumentTypeDetails
this: dateDate
formatString, default: nullA pattern, as described at http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/apidocs/org/joda/time/format/DateTimeFormat.html; if omitted will use ISO standard date formatting.
timeZoneString, default: nullThe time zone (e.g., 'America/Los_Angeles'); defaults to UTC.

Examples

Code Editor (JavaScript)

// Various examples of ee.Date.format with Joda-Time formatting and time zones.

var date = ee.Date('2020-08-18');  // Defaults to UTC
print(date);  // Date (2020-08-18 00:00:00)

// List of time zones:
// https://www.joda.org/joda-time/timezones.html

print(date.format(null, 'GMT'));  // 2020-08-18T00:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'Etc/GMT'));  // 2020-08-18T00:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'Etc/GMT+0'));  //  2020-08-18T00:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'Zulu'));  // 2020-08-18T00:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'UTC'));  // 2020-08-18T00:00:00

print(date.format(null, 'America/Los_Angeles'));  // 2020-08-17T17:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'US/Pacific'));  // 2020-08-17T17:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'Etc/GMT+8'));  // 2020-08-17T17:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'PST8PDT'));  // 2020-08-17T17:00:00

print(date.format(null, 'Australia/Tasmania'));  // 2020-08-18T10:00:00
print(date.format(null, 'Etc/GMT-10'));  // 2020-08-18T10:00:00

// Reference for Joda-Time format characters:
// https://joda-time.sourceforge.net/apidocs/org/joda/time/format/DateTimeFormat.html

var datetime = ee.Date('1975-07-23T21:13:59');  // Defaults to UTC
print(datetime); // Date (1972-07-25 21:13:59)

// year of era and era
print(datetime.format('YYYY GG'));  // 1975 AD
// century and year
print(datetime.format('CC YY'));  // 19 75
// weekyear and week of weekyear
print(datetime.format('xxxx ww'));  // 1975 30

// year and day of year
print(datetime.format('yy DDD'));  // 75 204
// month of year and day of month
print(datetime.format('MM dd'));  // 07 23

// day of week number and day of week text
print(datetime.format('e E'));  // 3 Wed
print(datetime.format('e EEEEEEEE'));  // 3 Wednesday

// half of day, hour of halfday, and clockhour of halfday
print(datetime.format('a K h'));  // PM 9 9
print(datetime.format('a KK hh'));  // PM 09 09

// hour of day, clockhour of day, minute, second, fraction of second
print(datetime.format('H k m s S'));  // 21 21 13 59 0
print(datetime.format('HH kk mm ss SS'));  // 21 21 13 59 00

// time zone
print(datetime.format('z'));  // UTC
print(datetime.format('zzzz'));  // Coordinated Universal Time
print(datetime.format('z', 'PST8PDT'));  // PDT
print(datetime.format('zzzz', 'PST8PDT'));  // Pacific Daylight Time

// time zone offset/id
print(datetime.format('Z'));  // +0000
print(datetime.format('ZZ'));  // +00:00
print(datetime.format('ZZZ'));  // UTC
print(datetime.format('Z', 'PST8PDT'));  // -0700
print(datetime.format('ZZ', 'PST8PDT'));  // -07:00
print(datetime.format('ZZZ', 'PST8PDT'));  // PST8PDT

// single quotes for text
print(datetime.format("YY 'yada' MM"));  // 75 yada 07
// '' for a single quote
print(datetime.format("YY ''MM'' dd"));  // 75 '07' 23

Python setup

See the Python Environment page for information on the Python API and using geemap for interactive development.

import ee
import geemap.core as geemap

Colab (Python)

# Various examples of ee.Date.format with Joda-Time formatting and time zones.

date = ee.Date('2020-08-18')  # Defaults to UTC
display(date)  # Date (2020-08-18 00:00:00)

# List of time zones:
# https://www.joda.org/joda-time/timezones.html

display(date.format(None, 'GMT'))  # 2020-08-18T00:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'Etc/GMT'))  # 2020-08-18T00:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'Etc/GMT+0'))  #  2020-08-18T00:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'Zulu'))  # 2020-08-18T00:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'UTC'))  # 2020-08-18T00:00:00

display(date.format(None, 'America/Los_Angeles'))  # 2020-08-17T17:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'US/Pacific'))  # 2020-08-17T17:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'Etc/GMT+8'))  # 2020-08-17T17:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'PST8PDT'))  # 2020-08-17T17:00:00

display(date.format(None, 'Australia/Tasmania'))  # 2020-08-18T10:00:00
display(date.format(None, 'Etc/GMT-10'))  # 2020-08-18T10:00:00

# Reference for Joda-Time format characters:
# http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/apidocs/org/joda/time/format/DateTimeFormat.html

datetime = ee.Date('1975-07-23T21:13:59')  # Defaults to UTC
display(datetime)  # Date (1972-07-25 21:13:59)

# year of era and era
display(datetime.format('YYYY GG'))  # 1975 AD
# century and year
display(datetime.format('CC YY'))  # 19 75
# weekyear and week of weekyear
display(datetime.format('xxxx ww'))  # 1975 30

# year and day of year
display(datetime.format('yy DDD'))  # 75 204
# month of year and day of month
display(datetime.format('MM dd'))  # 07 23

# day of week number and day of week text
display(datetime.format('e E'))  # 3 Wed
display(datetime.format('e EEEEEEEE'))  # 3 Wednesday

# half of day, hour of halfday, and clockhour of halfday
display(datetime.format('a K h'))  # PM 9 9
display(datetime.format('a KK hh'))  # PM 09 09

# hour of day, clockhour of day, minute, second, fraction of second
display(datetime.format('H k m s S'))  # 21 21 13 59 0
display(datetime.format('HH kk mm ss SS'))  # 21 21 13 59 00

# time zone
display(datetime.format('z'))  # UTC
display(datetime.format('zzzz'))  # Coordinated Universal Time
display(datetime.format('z', 'PST8PDT'))  # PDT
display(datetime.format('zzzz', 'PST8PDT'))  # Pacific Daylight Time

# time zone offset/id
display(datetime.format('Z'))  # +0000
display(datetime.format('ZZ'))  # +00:00
display(datetime.format('ZZZ'))  # UTC
display(datetime.format('Z', 'PST8PDT'))  # -0700
display(datetime.format('ZZ', 'PST8PDT'))  # -07:00
display(datetime.format('ZZZ', 'PST8PDT'))  # PST8PDT

# single quotes for text
display(datetime.format("YY 'yada' MM"))  # 75 yada 07
# '' for a single quote
display(datetime.format("YY ''MM'' dd"))  # 75 '07' 23