The datetime data type
Applies to: ✅ Azure Data Explorer ✅ Azure Monitor ✅ Microsoft Sentinel
The datetime data type represents an instant in time, typically expressed as a date and time of day.
Values range from 00:00:00 (midnight), January 1, 0001 Anno Domini (Common Era) through 11:59:59 P.M., December 31, 9999 A.D. (C.E.) in the Gregorian calendar.
Time values are measured in 100-nanosecond units called ticks, and a particular date is the number of ticks since 12:00 midnight, January 1, 0001 A.D. (C.E.) in the GregorianCalendar calendar (excluding ticks that would be added by leap seconds). For example, a ticks value of 31241376000000000 represents the date, Friday, January 01, 0100 12:00:00 midnight. This is sometimes called "a moment in linear time".
The
datetimeanddatedata types are equivalent.
Note
A datetime value in Kusto is always in the UTC time zone. If displaying datetime values
in other time zones is required, use datetime_utc_to_local()
or datetime_local_to_utc().
datetime literals
To specify a datetime literal, use one of the following syntax options:
| Syntax | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
datetime(year.month.day hour:minute:second.milliseconds) |
A date and time in UTC format. | datetime(2015-12-31 23:59:59.9) |
datetime(year.month.day) |
A date in UTC format. | datetime(2015-12-31) |
datetime() |
Returns the current time. | |
datetime(null) |
Represents the null value. |
Learn more about syntax conventions.
The now() and ago() special functions
Kusto provides two special functions, now() and ago(), to allow queries to reference the time at which the query starts execution.
Supported formats
There are several formats for datetime that are supported as datetime() literals
and the todatetime() function.
Warning
It is strongly recommended to use only the ISO 8601 formats.
ISO 8601
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%s%z | 2014-05-25T08:20:03.123456Z |
| %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%s | 2014-05-25T08:20:03.123456 |
| %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M | 2014-05-25T08:20 |
| %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%s%z | 2014-11-08 15:55:55.123456Z |
| %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%s | 2014-11-08 15:55:55 |
| %Y-%m-%d %H:%M | 2014-11-08 15:55 |
| %Y-%m-%d | 2014-11-08 |
RFC 822
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| %w, %e %b %r %H:%M:%s %Z | Sat, 8 Nov 14 15:05:02 GMT |
| %w, %e %b %r %H:%M:%s | Sat, 8 Nov 14 15:05:02 |
| %w, %e %b %r %H:%M | Sat, 8 Nov 14 15:05 |
| %w, %e %b %r %H:%M %Z | Sat, 8 Nov 14 15:05 GMT |
| %e %b %r %H:%M:%s %Z | 8 Nov 14 15:05:02 GMT |
| %e %b %r %H:%M:%s | 8 Nov 14 15:05:02 |
| %e %b %r %H:%M | 8 Nov 14 15:05 |
| %e %b %r %H:%M %Z | 8 Nov 14 15:05 GMT |
RFC 850
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| %w, %e-%b-%r %H:%M:%s %Z | Saturday, 08-Nov-14 15:05:02 GMT |
| %w, %e-%b-%r %H:%M:%s | Saturday, 08-Nov-14 15:05:02 |
| %w, %e-%b-%r %H:%M %Z | Saturday, 08-Nov-14 15:05 GMT |
| %w, %e-%b-%r %H:%M | Saturday, 08-Nov-14 15:05 |
| %e-%b-%r %H:%M:%s %Z | 08-Nov-14 15:05:02 GMT |
| %e-%b-%r %H:%M:%s | 08-Nov-14 15:05:02 |
| %e-%b-%r %H:%M %Z | 08-Nov-14 15:05 GMT |
| %e-%b-%r %H:%M | 08-Nov-14 15:05 |
Sortable
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| %Y-%n-%e %H:%M:%s | 2014-11-08 15:05:25 |
| %Y-%n-%e %H:%M:%s %Z | 2014-11-08 15:05:25 GMT |
| %Y-%n-%e %H:%M | 2014-11-08 15:05 |
| %Y-%n-%e %H:%M %Z | 2014-11-08 15:05 GMT |
| %Y-%n-%eT%H:%M:%s | 2014-11-08T15:05:25 |
| %Y-%n-%eT%H:%M:%s %Z | 2014-11-08T15:05:25 GMT |
| %Y-%n-%eT%H:%M | 2014-11-08T15:05 |
| %Y-%n-%eT%H:%M %Z | 2014-11-08T15:05 GMT |