---
title: Parsing date strings
description: Convert ISO 8601 date strings into readable datetimes by chaining `parseTimestamp` and `formatTimestamp`.
url: https://coralogix.com/docs/dataprime/cookbook/parsing_timestamps/
product: dataengine
feature: DataPrime Language
feature_id: dataprime-language
feature_identifier: dataengine/dataprime-language
last_updated: '2026-11-02'
---

# Parsing date strings

## Problem / Use case

You have ISO 8601 formatted timestamps (or similar) as strings (e.g., from log fields or external inputs), and you want to convert them into a readable datetime format for dashboards or further processing. Use [parseTimestamp](https://coralogix.com/docs/dataprime/language-reference/functions-reference/time/parsetimestamp.md) and [formatTimestamp](https://coralogix.com/docs/dataprime/language-reference/functions-reference/time/formattimestamp.md) to make the conversion possible.

## Query

```
create parsed from parseTimestamp('2025-04-29T05:53:02.439Z', 'iso8601')

| create formatted_time from formatTimestamp(parsed, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
```

## Output

```
{

  "parsed": 2025-04-29T05:53:02.439Z,

  "formatted_time": "2025-04-29 05:53:02"

}
```

## Variations

* Format as date only: `'%Y-%m-%d'`
* Include timezone offset: `formatTimestamp(parsed, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', 'UTC')`
* Format as timestamp in milliseconds: `'timestamp_milli'`

## TL;DR

Use `parseTimestamp` to interpret strings as timestamps, then `formatTimestamp` to convert them into readable strings. Works great for standardizing date fields across logs.