# TalendDate routine The TalendDate routine contains several functions which allow you to carry out different kinds of operations and checks concerning the format of Date expressions. Information noteWarning: These functions internally use the Java class [SimpleDateFormat](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html#number) except when the pattern is set to yyyy-MM-dd or yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss, where there is no check for the format of the input date string in order to achieve better performance. You need to make sure the input date string matches the set pattern precisely when using either of these two patterns. You can access these functions by double-clicking the TalendDate node under the system routines folder in the Repository tree view. Functions of the TalendDate routineFunctions of the TalendDateTalendDate routine | Function | Description | Syntax | | --- | --- | --- | | addDate | Adds n days, n months, n hours, n minutes or n seconds to a Java date
and returns the new date.

The Date format is: yyyy,
MM, dd,
HH, mm,
ss or SSS. | TalendDate.addDate("initial date string", ["date format - eg.:
yyyy/MM/dd"], integer n,"format of the part of the date to which n is to
be added - eg.:yyyy"). | | compareDate | Compares all or part of two dates according to the format specified.
Returns 0 if the dates are identical,
-1 if the first date is earlier and
1 if the second date is earlier.

The pattern parameter specifies the date format, for
example, "yyyy-mm-dd". | TalendDate.compareDate(Date date1, Date date2,[String
pattern]) | | diffDate | Returns the difference between two dates in terms of years, months, days,
hours, minutes, seconds, or milliseconds according to the comparison
parameter specified.

The dateType parameter specifies the date part to be
compared. The valid values are: "yyyy",
"MM", "dd", "HH",
"mm", "ss", "SSS". The
default value is "dd".

The ignoreDST parameter specifies if DST needs to be taken
into consideration. | TalendDate.diffDate(Date date1, Date date2,[String
dateType],[boolean ignoreDST])

For example, TalendDate.diffDate(TalendDate.parseDate("yyyy-MM-dd",
"2022-12-01"), TalendDate.parseDate("yyyy-MM-dd", "2022-10-02"),
"MM") returns 2. | | diffDateFloor | Returns the difference between two dates in terms of years or months
according to the comparison parameter specified. The value is rounded down
to the nearest integer.

The dateType parameter specifies the date part to be
compared. The valid values are: "yyyy",
"MM". | TalendDate.diffDateFloor(Date date1, Date date2, String
dateType)

For example,
TalendDate.diffDateFloor(TalendDate.parseDate("yyyy-MM-dd",
"2022-12-01"), TalendDate.parseDate("yyyy-MM-dd", "2022-10-02"),
"MM") returns 1. | | diffDateIgnoreDST | Returns the difference between two dates in terms of days, months or years
according to the comparison parameter specified, ignoring the DST.

The dateType parameter specifies the format of the date
part to be compared, for example, "yyyy". | TalendDate.diffDateIgnoreDST(Date1(), Date2(),[String
dateType]) | | formatDate | Returns a date string which corresponds to the format specified. | TalendDate.formatDate("date format - eg.: yyyy-MM-dd
HH:mm:ss", Date() to be formatted) | | formatDateInTimeZone | Formats a date into the specified format date/time string under the given
timezone. | TalendDate.formatDateInTimeZone(String datePattern, Date tate,
String TimeZoneID) | | formatDateInUTC | Formats a date into the specified format date/time string under the UTC
timezone. | TalendDate.formatDateInUTC(String datePattern, Date tate, String
TimeZoneID) | | formatDateLocale | Changes a date into a date/hour string according to the format used
in the target country. | TalendDate.formatDateLocale("format target", java.util.Date date,
"language or country code") | | formatDatetimeoffset | Formats date to MSSQL 2008 type datetimeoffset ISO 8601 string with local
time zone format string: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX (JDK7 support it). | TalendDate.formatDatetimeoffset(Date date) | | getCurrentDate | Returns the current date. No entry parameter is required. | TalendDate.getCurrentDate() | | getDate | Returns the current date and hour in the format specified (optional).
This string can contain fixed character strings or variables linked
to the date. By default, the string is returned in the format of
DD/MM/CCYY. | TalendDate.getDate("Format of the string - ex:
CCYY-MM-DD") | | getFirstDayOfMonth | Changes the date of an event to the first day of the current month
and returns the new date. | TalendDate.getFirstDayMonth(Date) | | getLastDayOfMonth | Changes the date of an event to the last day of the current month and
returns the new date. | TalendDate.getLastDayMonth(Date) | | getPartOfDate | Returns part of a date according to the format specified. This string
can contain fixed character strings or variables linked to the
date. | TalendDate.getPartOfDate("String indicating the part of the
date to be retrieved, "String in the format of the date to be
parsed") | | getRandomDate | Returns a random date, in the ISO format. | TalendDate.getRandomDate("format date of the character
string", String minDate, String maxDate) | | isDate | Checks whether the date string corresponds to the format specified.
Returns the boolean value true or false according to the
outcome. | TalendDate.isDate(Date() to be checked, String
pattern, [boolean
ignoreTimeZone])

where, pattern specifies the format of the date to be
checked. For example, yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss. | | isDateStrict | Tests string value as a date with right pattern using strict rules. This
validation uses Java 8 time tools. The range of time-zone offsets is
restricted to -18:00 to 18:00 inclusive. Returns a boolean value indicating
whether the stringDate is a date string with a right pattern. | TalendDate.isDateStrict(String stringDate, String pattern) | | parseDate | Changes a string into a Date. Returns a date in the specified format. | TalendDate.parseDate("format date of the string to be parsed",
"string in the format of the date to be parsed",["boolean about whether
parsing is set to be lenient, that is to say, accepting the heuristic
match with the format"]) | | parseDateInUTC | changes a string into a Date in UTC. Returns a date in the UTC
format.



In a Big Data Job running in a
production environment, as multiple machines are involved from different
time zones, you need always use this routine to guarantee the correct output
of date/time parsing. | TalendDate.parseDateInUTC("format date of the string to be parsed",
"string in the format of the date to be parsed", ["boolean about whether
parsing is set to be lenient, that is to say, accepting the heuristic
match with the format"]) | | parseDateLocale | Parses a string according to a specified format and extracts the date.
Returns the date according to the local format specified. | TalendDate.parseDateLocale("date format of the string to be
parsed", "String in the format of the date to be parsed", "code
corresponding to the country or language") | | setDate | Modifies part of a date according to the part and value of the date
specified and the format specified. | TalendDate.setDate(Date, whole n, "format of the part of the
date to be modified - eg.:yyyy") | | TO\_CHAR | Converts a date to a character string. | TalendDate.TO\_CHAR(date[,format])

| | TO\_DATE | Converts a character string to a Date/Time datatype. | TalendDate.TO\_DATE(string[, format])



For example, TalendDate.TO\_DATE("04/24/2017
13:55:42.123") will return Mon Apr 24 13:55:42
CST 2017. | | ADD\_TO\_DATE | Adds a specified amount to one part of a datetime value, and returns
a date in the same format as the date you pass to the function. | TalendDate.ADD\_TO\_DATE(date, format, amount)



For example,

if TalendDate.getCurrentDate() returns Mon
Apr 24 14:26:03 CST 2017,


TalendDate.ADD\_TO\_DATE(TalendDate.getCurrentDate(), "YY",
1) will return Tue Apr 24 14:26:03 CST
2018. | Information noteWarning: Although "yyyy" and "YYYY" in the date format return the same year number in most cases, "YYYY" may not work as expected when used: * at the first week of a year if the year does not start by the first day of the week. * at the last week of a year if the year does not end by the last day of the week. For example, when calculating what date it is 3 days before January 2, 2016, the code below would return a wrong date: ``` System.out.println(TalendDate.formatDate("YYYY-MM-dd", TalendDate.addDate(TalendDate.TO_DATE("01/02/2016 08:10:30.123"), -3, "dd"))); ``` while the following code would work as expected: ``` System.out.println(TalendDate.formatDate("yyyy-MM-dd", TalendDate.addDate(TalendDate.TO_DATE("01/02/2016 08:10:30.123"), -3, "dd"))); ``` Therefore, you should typically use "yyyy", which represents calendar year. ### In this section * [Formatting a Date](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/formatting-date) * [Checking a Date](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/checking-date) * [Comparing Dates](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/comparing-dates) * [Configuring a Date](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/configuring-date) * [Parsing a Date](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/parsing-date) * [Retrieving part of a Date](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/retrieving-part-of-date) * [Formatting the Current Date](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-05/formatting-current-date)