Tips & Tricks: File Renaming and Date Format
March 05, 2011 08:23 in Action(s) | Tips & Tricks
One of the great actions that Action(s) provides is the Rename Files action.
But you can also create your own format if the ones provided does not answer your need. It is very easy. Action(s) interprets different letters as date and time codes and replaces them by their values. You can combine the codes to create your own format.
Here are the available iddentifiers:
Text can be quoted using single quotes (
All characters which are not letters (from
The following examples show how date and time patterns are interpreted in the U.S. locale. The given date and time are 4 July 2001 at 12:08:56 local time in the U.S. Pacific Time time zone.
Especially, using the add date mode, you can add a date to the file name using various date formats. By default, Rename Files provides 7 formats:
| Date and Time Format | Example |
|---|---|
dd MMMMM yyyy
| 29 March 2011
|
dd-MM-yy
| 29-03-11
|
MM-dd-yy
| 03-29-11
|
yyyyMMdd
| 20110329
|
dd-MM-yy hh.mm.ss
| 29-03-11 17.42.12
|
h.mm a
| 5.42 pm
|
hh.mm
| 17.42
|
But you can also create your own format if the ones provided does not answer your need. It is very easy. Action(s) interprets different letters as date and time codes and replaces them by their values. You can combine the codes to create your own format.
Here are the available iddentifiers:
| Code | Date or Time Component | Examples |
|---|---|---|
G
| Era designator | AD
|
yy
| Year (2 digits) | 96
|
yyyy
| Year (4 digits) | 1996
|
MM
| Month in year (2 digits) | 07
|
MMM
| Month in year (3 letters) | Jul
|
MMMM
| Month in year (full) | July
|
w
| Week in year | 27
|
W
| Week in month | 2
|
D
| Day in year | 189
|
d
| Day in month (1 or 2 digits) | 5 ; 23
|
dd
| Day in month (2 digits) | 05 ; 23
|
F
| Day of week in month | 2
|
EEE
| Day in week (3 letters) | Tue
|
EEEE
| Day in week (full) | Tuesday
|
a
| Am/pm marker | PM
|
H
| Hour in day (0-23) (1 or 2 digits) | 0 ; 14
|
HH
| Hour in day (0-23) (2 digits) | 00 ; 14
|
h
| Hour in am/pm (1-12) (1 or 2 digits) | 12 ; 3
|
hh
| Hour in am/pm (1-12) (2 digits) | 12 ; 03
|
k
| Hour in day (1-24) (1 or 2 digits) | 24 ; 3
|
kk
| Hour in day (1-24) (2 digits) | 24 ; 03
|
K
| Hour in am/pm (0-11) (1 or 2 digits) | 0 ; 11
|
K
| Hour in am/pm (0-11) (2 digits) | 00 ; 11
|
m
| Minute in hour (1 or 2 digits) | 30 ; 5
|
mm
| Minute in hour (2 digits) | 30 ; 05
|
s
| Second in minute (1 or 2 digits) | 55 ; 8
|
ss
| Second in minute (2 digits) | 55 ; 08
|
S
| Millisecond (1, 2 or 3 digits) | 978 ; 78 ; 9
|
SSS
| Millisecond (3 digits) | 978 ; 078 ; 009
|
zzz
| Time zone (short name if available or GMT based) | PST ; GMT-08:00
|
zzzz
| Time zone (full name if available or GMT based) | Pacific Standard Time ; GMT-08:00
|
Z
| Time zone (RFC 822 format) | -0800
|
Text can be quoted using single quotes (
') to avoid interpretation. '' (2 quotes) represents a single quote. All characters which are not letters (from
'A' to 'Z' and from 'a' to 'z') are not interpreted and so do not need to be put between quotes.The following examples show how date and time patterns are interpreted in the U.S. locale. The given date and time are 4 July 2001 at 12:08:56 local time in the U.S. Pacific Time time zone.
| Date and Time Format | Result |
|---|---|
yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z
| 2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT
|
EEE, MMM d, ''yy
| Wed, Jul 4, '01
|
h:mm a
| 12:08 PM
|
hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz
| 12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time
|
K:mm a, z
| 0:08 PM, PDT
|
yyyy.MMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa
| 2001.July.04 AD 12:08 PM
|
EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z
| Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:08:56 -0700
|
yyMMddHHmmssZ
| 010704120856-0700
|
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