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SOLVED

Convert String in FileName to Date

Lizzie
6 - Meteoroid

So, I have files from omniture that are are named according to their dates, i.e. Fri. 15 Oct. 2016. I want to convert this to a date format, i.e. 10/15/2016. I have tried the DateTime parse, but they do not have the format in their menu. When I try running it, I get nulls. 

 

Can the DateTime parse tool work for me? Am I using it wrong? Or is there a better way?

4 REPLIES 4
dataMack
12 - Quasar

Hi Lizzie.  When you need to get specific, you'll want to use a Formula tool and create a new date field.  You'll use the datetimeparse function and specify your format.

 

I keep this page bookmarked:

https://help.alteryx.com/10.6/index.htm?#Reference/DateTimeFunctions.htm

Click under the 'Date/Time Specifiers' section to find the relvant specifiers you need.

 

In your case, I'll assume you have a field called 'OmnitureDate'.  Your expression for the new date field you create in the formula tool would be:

 

datetimeparse([OmnitureDate],'%a. %d %b. %Y')

 

Hope that helps!

nick_schimweg
8 - Asteroid

Hi Lizzie,

 

What you're trying to do seems simple enough. Would you mind attaching your workflow to troubleshoot?

 

- Nick

MarqueeCrew
20 - Arcturus
20 - Arcturus

Hi @Lizzie!

 

I took a different approach than my esteemed colleagues ( @dataMack and @nick_schimweg ).  I assumed that the format of the incoming date looks like:  DDD. dd MMM. YYYY (Fri. 15 Oct. 2016)

 

I convert it using a regular expression into:  2016-Oct-15 and then use a lookup table to change the month into a number.  The end result is:  2016-10-15

 

This is the Alteryx date format (YYYY-MM-DD).

 

I also didn't know if the day could come in without 2 digits, so I pad it left with a 0 if it needs one.

 

Screen Shot 2016-10-28 at 6.48.33 PM.png

 

Cheers & Happy Halloweeen!

 

Mark

Alteryx ACE & Top Community Contributor

Chaos reigns within. Repent, reflect and restart. Order shall return.
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Lizzie
6 - Meteoroid

Thanks everyone for the help!

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