# Formatting date in Ansible **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [December 15, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119 "2021-12-15T20:36:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/1 "2021-12-15T20:36:30Z")
In another thread, I was explaining how I’m getting a user’s information from our IPA server. I believe that the password expiration is already in a datetime format. I’d like to display it to the user via email in a more standard format. For example, let’s say that the user’s password expiration date/value is 20210715141027Z. In the email I send out to them, I’d like to show 07/15/2021. Then, I’d like to calculate the date where their account will be automatically disabled, which should be 90 days after the expiration date. But I can’t figure out how to add 90 days to the expiration date. Here’s part of my playbook for reference: - name: Set Disabled Users fact set\_fact: disabled\_users: “{{ user\_show.results | json\_query(‘[\*].json.result.result.{uid: uid[0], mail: mail[0], nsaccountlock: nsaccountlock, pwdexp: krbpasswordexpiration[0]. **datetime** }’) | selectattr(‘pwdexp’,‘\<’,cutoff\_date) | selectattr(‘nsaccountlock’, ‘equalto’, False) | list }}” - name: Print disabled users debug: msg: “{{ item.uid }} / {{ item.mail }} / {{ item.pwdexp.format(‘%m/%d/%Y’) }}” loop: “{{ disabled\_users }}” Thanks, Harry ---
**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/2 "2021-12-16T00:24:41Z")
For example     - debug:         var: \_date90       vars:         \_date: "{{ pwdexp[0:4] }}-{{ pwdexp[4:6] }}-{{ pwdexp[6:8] }}"         \_sec: "{{ (\_date|to\_datetime('%Y-%m-%d')).strftime('%s')|int                   + 90 \* 24 \* 60 \* 60 }}"         \_date90: "{{ '%Y-%m-%d'|strftime(\_sec) }}" gives   \_date90: '2021-10-13' ---
**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/3 "2021-12-16T00:37:23Z")
This can be simplified         \_sec: "{{ (pwdexp[0:8]|                    to\_datetime('%Y%m%d')).strftime('%s')|                    int + 90 \* 24 \* 60 \* 60 }}"         \_date90: "{{ '%Y-%m-%d'|strftime(\_sec) }}" ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/4 "2021-12-16T13:48:02Z")
So I’m trying this: - name: Print warning list users debug: msg: “{{ item.uid }} / {{ item.mail }} / {{ item.pwdexp }} / {{ (item.pwdexp[0:8]|to\_datetime(‘%Y%m%d’)).strftime(‘%s’)|int + 90 \* 24 \* 60 \* 60 }}” loop: “{{ warning\_users }}” And I’m getting this: TASK [Print warning list users] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [ipaserver.example.comt] =\> (item={u’pwdexp’: u’20210715141027Z’, u’mail’: u’test.user1@example.com’, u’uid’: u’test.user1’, u’nsaccountlock’: False}) =\> { “msg”: “test.user1 / [test.user1@example.com](mailto:test.user1@example.com) / 20210715141027Z / 1634097600” } Any ideas? Harry ---
**Author:** ![Antony\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Antony\_Stone](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Antony_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/5 "2021-12-16T13:59:59Z")
So, you're starting from 15th July 2021 and adding 90 days, which comes to 13th October. strftime('%s') will give you the Unix Epoch time, in this case 1634097600, which is indeed the 13th October 2021. Antony. ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/6 "2021-12-16T14:20:46Z")
I get that, but I want to show it as 10/13/2021. How do I do that??? Thanks, Harry ---
**Author:** ![Antony\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Antony\_Stone](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Antony_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/7 "2021-12-16T14:25:17Z")
I would try strftime('%m/%d/%Y') provided you are happy with dates in the first 12 days of each month being highly ambiguous for an international audience. Antony. ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/8 "2021-12-16T14:30:59Z")
So I just tried this: - name: Print warning list users debug: msg: “{{ item.uid }} / {{ item.mail }} / {{ item.pwdexp }} / {{ (item.pwdexp[0:8]|to\_datetime(‘%Y%m%d’)).strftime(‘%m/%d/%Y’)|int + 90 \* 24 \* 60 \* 60 }}” loop: “{{ warning\_users }}” And it gives me this: “msg”: “test.user1 / [test.user1@example.com](mailto:test.user1@example.com) / 20210715141027Z / 7776000” Thanks, Harry ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Eggleston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mike\_Eggleston](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mike_Eggleston)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/9 "2021-12-16T14:59:22Z")
I suggest you change the format to year, month then day. This format sorts naturally when you use ls(1). (The command in vi(1) is :!cp -p % %.211216 (or whatever is the current date).) Mike ---
**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/10 "2021-12-16T15:33:49Z")
For example - hosts: localhost   vars:     warning\_users:       - {uid: user1, mail: user1@example.com, pwdexp: 20210715141027Z}       - {uid: user2, mail: user2@example.com, pwdexp: 20210716141027Z}       - {uid: user3, mail: user3@example.com, pwdexp: 20210717141027Z}   tasks:     - debug:         msg: "{{ item.uid }} /               {{ item.mail }} /               {{ item.pwdexp }} /               {{ \_date90 }}"       loop: "{{ warning\_users }}"       vars:         \_sec: "{{ (item.pwdexp[0:8]|                    to\_datetime('%Y%m%d')).strftime('%s')|int                   + 90 \* 24 \* 60 \* 60 }}"         \_date90: "{{ '%Y-%m-%d'|strftime(\_sec) }}" gives   msg: user1 / user1@example.com / 20210715141027Z / 2021-10-13   msg: user2 / user2@example.com / 20210716141027Z / 2021-10-14   msg: user3 / user3@example.com / 20210717141027Z / 2021-10-15 ---
**Author:** ![Nico\_Kadel-Garcia](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/nico_kadel-garcia/32/9998_2.png) [@Nico\_Kadel-Garcia](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nico_Kadel-Garcia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/11 "2021-12-16T15:59:59Z")
YYYY-MM-DD is the very useful European standard, and is also followed by various useful RFC's, such as RFC 3339.Might I encourage ansible users to follow that standard as closely as possibl?     $ date --rfc-3339=seconds     2021-12-16 10:58:09-05:00 It also preserves the offset from GMT, which the typical casually drummed up bit of python scripting will not. ---
**Author:** ![harry\_devine](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/harry_devine/32/5293_2.png) [@harry\_devine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/harry_devine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-date-in-ansible/36119/12 "2021-12-16T16:05:55Z")
Thanks Vladimir! That worked as I needed it to. I appreciate everyone’s input! Thanks, Harry