StringToDate()

Converts a date string to a different format.

Availability

This function became available in Marketing Cloud Next during the Summer ’26 release (API version 67.0).

Differences Between Marketing Cloud Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next

In Marketing Cloud Engagement, this function returns a dateTime object that other functions can reformat.

In Marketing Cloud Next, this function returns a string formatted with the G standard format. This format uses a combination of a short date value and a long time value. For example, in the en_US locale, this function outputs a timestamp that’s similar to this example: 5/15/2026 1:23:45 PM. Because the output is a string and is formatted based on locale rules, you can’t reliably pass it through other functions that expect a date-time string, such as FormatDate(). If your use case requires you to parse and then format a date, use FormatDate() instead.

Syntax

StringToDate(dateString)

The StringToDate() function has one parameter:

• dateString (string): Required. The date or timestamp to format.

Supported Date Formats

You can specify a date string in several formats, including:

• ISO 8601 timestamp: 2023-08-05T13:41:23-06:00
• ISO 8601 date: 2023-08-05
• US date and time notation: 8/5/2023 1:41 PM
• Long-form notation: 5 August 2023 or August 5, 2023
• Date and time: 2023-08-05 1:41:23 PM
• Time only: 1:41 PM
• Chinese and Japanese notation: 2023 年 8 月 5 日
• Korean notation: 2023년 8월 5일

The function doesn’t support these formats:

• Dates in which the day includes an ordinal suffix, such as August 5th, 2023 or 5th August 2023.
• Little-endian numeral notation, such as 5/8/2023 to represent the 5th of August, 2023.
• Month names in languages other than English, such as 5 août 2023.
• Dates that include any numerals other than Western Arabic numerals, such as ٢٠٢٣/٨/٥.
• Dates based on any calendar system other than the Gregorian calendar, such as 18 Av, 5783 or 18 Muharram, 1445.

Usage

To use this function, pass it a date or timestamp in a supported format.

%%[
  Var @endDate
  Set @endDate = "2023년 8월 5일"
]%%
<p>This offer is valid until %%=StringToDate(@endDate)=%%.</p>

The example returns the timestamp in a format that aligns with the current locale settings.

This offer is valid until 8/5/2023 12:00:00 AM.