# Timestamp formats in ansible

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/timestamp-formats-in-ansible/18053>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [April 22, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/timestamp-formats-in-ansible/18053 "2015-04-22T16:03:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rambius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@rambius](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rambius)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/timestamp-formats-in-ansible/18053/1 "2015-04-22T16:03:00Z")

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Hello,

I defined a timestamp variable used to name backup files:

backup\_timestamp: “{{ ansible\_date\_time.year }}{{ ansible\_date\_time.month }}{{ ansible\_date\_time.day }}{{ ansible\_date\_time.hour }}{{ ansible\_date\_time.minute }}{{ ansible\_date\_time.second }}”

I use that variable successfully in a command. My questions is: is there a way to define timestamp formats without manual appending of ansible\_data\_time’s components?

Regards  
rambius

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**Author:** ![Jian\_Jakim\_Li](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Jian\_Jakim\_Li](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jian_Jakim_Li)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/timestamp-formats-in-ansible/18053/2 "2016-09-18T04:42:49Z")

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If you’re using ansible 2.0, now you can use “{{lookup(‘pipe’, ‘date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S’)}}” to get what you want.