Shape · Dates and time

Make Date from Parts

Combines separate year, month and day columns (and hour, minute, second) into one real date or timestamp.

Also known as: Date from parts

How it works

Each build picks a kind (Date, Time or Timestamp), one source per part and an output column, which is required. A part is either a Column or a fixed Number. Date and Timestamp builds need Year, Month and Day; a build missing one of them is skipped. Hour, Minute and Second are optional and count as 0 when left out, so a Timestamp from year, month and day lands on midnight; Second may be fractional. The new column is appended and the source columns stay. Two builds with the same output name get a _2 suffix on the second.

Inputs and outputs

Settings

builds: [{kind:"date"|"time"|"timestamp", year/month/day/hour/minute/second:{partSource:"column"|"const", column?|const?}, outputColumn?}] — omitted clock parts default to 0; omit outputColumn to get the suggested name date / time / timestamp (the build's kind), with _2, _3… when that name is taken

Example

A sales export has yr, mo and dy as separate numbers. Add a build of kind Date with Year = yr, Month = mo, Day = dy and output sale_date. To stamp every row at the first of its month instead, set Day to the Number 1.

More in Dates and time

• Extract Date/Time Parts — Pulls parts out of a date into new columns: year, quarter, month, week, day, weekday, hour, a weekend flag and more.
• Date/Time Arithmetic — Adds or subtracts time from a date, or measures the gap between two dates, from seconds to years or working days. For example, due date = order date + 30 days.
• Truncate Date/Time — Rounds dates down to the start of a period, such as the first of the month. Handy before grouping by month.
• Time of Day — Drops the date from a timestamp and keeps the clock time, so you can compare times across days.
• Convert Date/Time to Text — Turns a date into text using a pattern, such as 01/03/2024 or Mar 2024. The result is text, so use it for labels and exports, not for date math.
• Convert Serial Date — Converts between numbers and dates: Unix timestamps, Excel serial dates, Julian days or your own starting point. For example, 45292 from Excel becomes 2024-01-01.
• Convert Timezone — Shifts times from one time zone to another, with daylight saving handled. For example, UTC to Europe/Warsaw.