Use of Date & Time Expressions Guide for Power Automate – Complete Tutorial
Date and Time field manipulations are very common in business applications. In Power Automate we can use a list of Data & Time related expressions to manage data time fields. In this post we will discuss all expressions about data and time field expressions.
The below is the list of data & time expressions available in Power Automate. The Date Time fields expressions use format as common parameter to understand all formats of date time refer here Standard Formats & Custom Formats.
The below examples are constructed by taking a variable “Initial Date“.
The date taken as source date is “2021-09-13T00:00:00Z” (year-month-dayThh:mm:ssZ)
| Expressions | Description |
|---|---|
| addDays | This function is used to add number of days to an existing timestamp. You can also use negative number to deduct days. Syntax : addDays('<timestamp>', <days>, '<format>'?)Ex : addDays(variables(‘Initial Date’),7,’f’) Ex : addDays(variables(‘Initial Date’),-7,’f’) |
| addHours | This function is used to add number of hours to an existing timestamp. You can also use negative number to deduct hours. Syntax : addHours('<timestamp>', <hours>, '<format>'?)Ex : addHours(variables(‘Initial Date’),5,’f’) Ex : addHours(variables(‘Initial Date’),-5,’f’) |
| addMinutes | This function is used to add number of minutes to an existing timestamp. You can also use negative number to deduct minutes. Syntax : addMinutes('<timestamp>', <minutes>, '<format>'?)Ex : addMinutes(variables(‘Initial Date’),5,’f’) Ex : addMinutes(variables(‘Initial Date’),-5,’f’) |
| addSeconds | This function is used to add number of seconds to an existing timestamp. You can also use negative number to deduct seconds. Syntax: addSeconds('<timestamp>', <seconds>, '<format>'?)Ex : addSeconds(variables(‘Initial Date’),6,’f’) Ex : addSeconds (variables(‘Initial Date’),-6,’f’) |
| addToTime | This function adds a number of time units to an existing timestamp. You can also use negative number to deduct timestamp. Syntax : addToTime('<timestamp>', <interval>, '<timeUnit>', '<format>'?)Ex: addToTime(variables(‘Initial Date’) , 1, ‘Day’) Ex: addToTime(variables(‘Initial Date’) , -1, ‘Day’) You can use time unit as : “Second”, “Minute”, “Hour”, “Day”, “Week”, “Month”, “Year” |
| convertFromUtc | This function converts an existing timestamp from Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) to the target time zone. For all Time zone codes see here. Syntax: convertFromUtc('<timestamp>', '<destinationTimeZone>', '<format>'?)For example if you want to convert UTC to EST then you have to use like below. Ex : convertFromUtc(variables(‘Initial Date’) , ‘Eastern Standard Time’,’f’) |
| convertTimeZone | This function converts a timestamp from the source time zone to the target time zone. Syntax : convertTimeZone('<timestamp>', '<sourceTimeZone>', '<destinationTimeZone>', '<format>'?)Example : If you want to convert from India Standard Time (IST) to Eastern Standard Time (EST) then use the expression as below: Ex: |
| convertToUtc | This function converts an existing timestamp to Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). For all Time zone codes see here. Syntax: convertToUtc('<timestamp>', '<sourceTimeZone>', '<format>'?)For example if you want to convert IST to UTC then you have to use like below. Ex : convertToUtc(variables(‘Initial Date’) , ‘Indian Standard Time’,’f’) |
| dayOfMonth | This expression return the day of the month from an existing timestamp. Syntax: dayOfMonth('<timestamp>')Example : This example returns the number for the day of the month from this timestamp: dayOfMonth( variables(‘Initial Date’)) It returns this result: 13 |
| dayOfWeek | This expression return the day of the week from an existing timestamp. Syntax: dayOfWeek('<timestamp>')Example : This example returns the number for the day of the week from this timestamp: dayOfWeek(variables(‘Initial Date’)) It returns this result: 1 NOTE : The day of the week from the specified timestamp where Sunday is 0, Monday is 1, and so on |
| dayOfYear | This expression return the day of the year from an existing timestamp. Syntax: dayOfYear('<timestamp>')Example : This example returns the number for the day of the year from this timestamp: dayOfYear(variables(‘Initial Date’)) It returns this result: 256 |
| formatDateTime | This expression returns the date format from a timestamp. Example to display in “yyyy-MM-dd” format then you have to pass like below: formatDateTime(variables(‘Initial Date’),’ yyyy-MM-dd ‘) |
| getFutureTime | This Return the current timestamp plus the specified time units. getFutureTime(<interval>, <timeUnit>, <format>?)getFutureTime(5, 'Day', 'D')This returns the timestamp by adding 5 days to the current date. |
| getPastTime | This Return the current timestamp minus the specified time units. getPastTime(<interval>, <timeUnit>, <format>?)getPastTime(6, 'Day', 'D')This returns the timestamp by substracting 6 days to the current date. |
| startOfDay | Return the start of the day for a timestamp.startOfDay('<timestamp>', '<format>'?)startOfDay('2018-03-15T13:30:30Z')this returns “2018-03-15T00:00:00.0000000Z” |
| startOfHour | Return the start of the hour for a timestamp.startOfHour('<timestamp>', '<format>'?)startOfHour('2018-03-15T13:30:30Z')And returns this result:Â "2018-03-15T13:00:00.0000000Z" |
| startOfMonth | Return the start of the month for a timestamp.startOfMonth('<timestamp>', '<format>'?)startOfMonth('2018-03-15T13:30:30Z')This example returns the start of the month in the specified format for this timestamp: |
| subtractFromTime | Subtract a number of time units from a timestamp.subtractFromTime('<timestamp>', <interval>, '<timeUnit>', '<format>'?)subtractFromTime('2018-01-02T00:00:00Z', 1, 'Day')The unit of time to use with interval: “Second”, “Minute”, “Hour”, “Day”, “Week”, “Month”, “Year” |
| ticks | Return the ticks property value for a specified timestamp.ticks('<timestamp>')ticks(variables(‘Initial Date’)) |
| utcNow | Return the current timestamp as a string. |
Hope this helps
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