You always have the option to convert a Timestamp value into a preferred string representation, using Windows Date/Time format string specifiers. Whether you must format your time values depends on whether your local data is structured for non-UTC time zones:

• Taking the default: If you specify no format string, you are accepting the default. As long as your Timestamp values are in UTC and you do not care about the formatting of time values, you do not need to specify any conversion:
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  ReportStart(Timestamp)

• Time zones: If your local file assumes a Timestamp value is expressed in terms of a local time zone, you must explicitly specify both a timestamp format string and a time zone string:
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  PurchaseTime(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm, PST)

Examples:

ReportStart(Timestamp) = "Report start time"           # uses default UTC without formatting
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PurchaseTime(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm) = Input.SwipeTime       # converts and formats UTC to preferred format
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RunningTime(hh:mm) = Input.RunTime                     # converts and formats TimeInterval to a string
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PurchaseTime(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm, PST) = Input.SwipeTime  # converts and formats from UTC to time zone

To explicitly specify the mapping between a Timestamp or TimeInterval and its string representation, use a Windows Date/Time format string. This can be a simple Format specifier or a custom format string built up from a set of Date/Time format characters and string literals. You may not use a comma as part of a format string.

The following table describes the standard format specifiers for formatting the DateTime values:

The following table describes custom date/time format characters:

The time zone string can be any of the values in the following table:

Tip
Time zone values include the calculation for the offset from UTC standard time as well as any offsets required for daylight savings time. For details, see the TimeZone table documentation.