🕰️ Date and time format in Go cheatsheet

Format date #

To format a date in Go, use the time.Format() method of the Time struct:

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "time"
)

func main() {
  t := time.Now()
  fmt.Println(t.Format(time.RFC3339))
}

Parse date #

To parse a date in Go, use the time.Parse() function from the time package:

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "log"
  "time"
)

// date time format layout
const YYYYMMDD = "2006-01-02"

func main() {
  s := "2022-03-23"
  t, err := time.Parse(YYYYMMDD, s)
  if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
  }
  fmt.Println(t)
}

Parse date with a timezone #

The time.Parse() interprets a time as UTC. To parse a time at a specific location, use the time.ParseInLocation() function:

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "log"
  "time"
)

func main() {
  s := "2022-03-23T07:00:00+01:00"
  loc, _ := time.LoadLocation("Europe/Berlin")
  t, err := time.ParseInLocation(time.RFC3339, s, loc)
  if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
  }
  fmt.Println(t)
}

Reference layout #

To format or parse a date, you need to specify the layout of the input or output date string. The Go language uses a specific date layout format in which each part of the date has an ordinal index:

"01/02 03:04:05PM '06 -0700"

01 - month
02 - day
03 - hour (12h)
04 - minute
05 - second
06 - year
07 - time zone offset

Useful date and time layouts #

Some layouts, not defined in the time package, which are useful in everyday coding:

const (
  // YYYY-MM-DD: 2022-03-23
  YYYYMMDD = "2006-01-02"
  // 24h hh:mm:ss: 14:23:20
  HHMMSS24h = "15:04:05"
  // 12h hh:mm:ss: 2:23:20 PM
  HHMMSS12h = "3:04:05 PM"
  // text date: March 23, 2022
  TextDate = "January 2, 2006"
  // text date with weekday: Wednesday, March 23, 2022
  TextDateWithWeekday = "Monday, January 2, 2006"
  // abbreviated text date: Mar 23 Wed
  AbbrTextDate = "Jan 2 Mon"
)

Predefined layouts #

The built-in time/date layouts defined in the time package:

const (
  Layout      = "01/02 03:04:05PM '06 -0700" // The reference time, in numerical order.
  ANSIC       = "Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 2006"
  UnixDate    = "Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 MST 2006"
  RubyDate    = "Mon Jan 02 15:04:05 -0700 2006"
  RFC822      = "02 Jan 06 15:04 MST"
  RFC822Z     = "02 Jan 06 15:04 -0700" // RFC822 with numeric zone
  RFC850      = "Monday, 02-Jan-06 15:04:05 MST"
  RFC1123     = "Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 MST"
  RFC1123Z    = "Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 -0700" // RFC1123 with numeric zone
  RFC3339     = "2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00"
  RFC3339Nano = "2006-01-02T15:04:05.999999999Z07:00"
  Kitchen     = "3:04PM"
  // Handy time stamps.
  Stamp      = "Jan _2 15:04:05"
  StampMilli = "Jan _2 15:04:05.000"
  StampMicro = "Jan _2 15:04:05.000000"
  StampNano  = "Jan _2 15:04:05.000000000"
)

All date formatting strings #

Date format #

Year format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
2006	YYYY	`"2022"`	Four-digit year
06	YY	`"22"`	Two-digit year

Month format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
January	MMMM	`"July"`	Full month name
Jan	MMM	`"Jul"`	Three-letter abbreviation of the month
01	MM	`"07"`	Two-digit month (with a leading 0 if necessary)
1	M	`"7"`	At most two-digit month (without a leading 0)

Day format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
Monday	DDDD	`"Tuesday"`	Full weekday name
Mon	DDD	`"Tue"`	Three-letter abbreviation of the weekday
02	DD	`"08"`	Two-digit month day (with a leading 0 if necessary)
_2	_D	`" 8"`	Two-character month day with a leading space if necessary
2	D	`"8"`	At most two-digit month day (without a leading 0)
002	ddd	`"074"`	Three-digit day of the year (with a leading 0 if necessary)
__2	__d	`" 74"`	Three-character day of the year with a leading spaces if necessary

Time format #

Hour format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
15	hh	`"17"`	Two-digit 24h format hour
03	hh	`"05"`	Two digit 12h format hour (with a leading 0 if necessary)
3	h	`"5"`	At most two-digit 12h format hour (without a leading 0)
PM	am/pm	`"AM"`	AM/PM mark (uppercase)
pm	am/pm	`"am"`	AM/PM mark (lowercase)

Minute format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
04	mm	`"07"`	Two-digit minute (with a leading 0 if necessary)
4	m	`"7"`	At most two-digit minute (without a leading 0)

Second format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
05	ss	`"09"`	Two-digit second (with a leading 0 if necessary)
5	s	`"9"`	At most two-digit second (without a leading 0)
.0, .00, …, .000000000	.s	`".126284000"`	A fractional second (trailing zeros included)
.9, .99, …, .999999999	.s	`".126284"`	A fractional second (trailing zeros omitted)

Time zone format #

Time zone format
Go layout	Format	Example	Description
MST	TTT	`"CEST"`	Abbreviation of the time zone
-070000	±hhmmss	`"+010000"`	Numeric time zone offset with hours, minutes, and seconds
-07:00:00	±hh:mm:ss	`"+01:00:00"`	Numeric time zone offset with hours, minutes, and seconds separated by colons
-0700	±hhmm	`"+0100"`	Numeric time zone offset with hours and minutes
-07:00	±hh:mm	`"+01:00"`	Numeric time zone offset with hours and minutes separated by colons
-07	±hh	`"+01"`	Numeric time zone offset with hours
Z070000	Z or ±hhmmss	`"+010000"`	Like -070000 but prints `"Z"` instead of `"+000000"` for the UTC zone (ISO 8601 behavior)
Z07:00:00	Z or ±hh:mm:ss	`"+01:00:00"`	Like -07:00:00 but prints `"Z"` instead of `"+00:00:00"` for the UTC zone (ISO 8601 behavior)
Z0700	Z or ±hhmm	`"+0100"`	Like -0700 but prints `"Z"` instead of `"+0000"` for the UTC zone (ISO 8601 behavior)
Z07:00	Z or ±hh:mm	`"+01:00"`	Like -07:00 but prints `"Z"` instead of `"+00:00"` for the UTC zone (ISO 8601 behavior)
Z07	Z or ±hh	`"+01"`	Like -07 but prints `"Z"` instead of `"+00"` for the UTC zone (ISO 8601 behavior)