Conversion functions conversion-functions

• decimal
• boolean
• string
• integer

toBool(<decimal>)

toBool(<boolean>)

toBool(<string>)

toBool(<integer>)

Return a boolean.

toBool("true")

toBool(1)

Returns true.

toBool("this is not a boolean")

Returns false.

toDateOnly(<dateTime>)

toDateOnly(<dateTimeOnly>)

toDateOnly(<string>)

toDateOnly(<integer>, <integer>, <integer>)

Returns a dateOnly type value.

toDateOnly("2023-08-18")

toDateOnly("2023-08-18T00:00:00.000Z")

toDateOnly("2023-08-18T00:00:00")

all return a dateOnly object representing 2023-08-18.

toDateOnly(#{ExperiencePlatform.ProfileFieldGroup.person.birthDate})

Returns a dateOnly.

toDateTime(<string>)

toDateTime(<string>, <dateOnly>)

toDateTime(<string>, <dateTimeOnly>)

toDateTime(<integer>)

Return a dateTime.

toDateTime("2023-08-18T23:17:59.123Z")

Returns 2023-08-18T23:17:59.123Z

The ISO-8601 string already includes timezone information.

toDateTime("Europe/Paris", toDateOnly("2023-08-18"))

Returns 2023-08-18T00:00:00.000+02:00

This creates a dateTime by combining a timezone with a date-only value. The time is set to midnight (00:00:00) in the specified timezone.

toDateTime("UTC", toDateTimeOnly("2023-08-18T23:17:59.123"))

Returns 2023-08-18T23:17:59.123Z

This creates a dateTime by applying a timezone to a dateTimeOnly value (which has no timezone information).

toDateTime(1560762190189)

Returns 2019-06-17T09:03:10.189Z

Converts a Unix timestamp in milliseconds to a dateTime value.

toDateTimeOnly(<dateTime>)

toDateTimeOnly(<string>)

Return a datetime without considering time zone.

toDateTimeOnly ("2023-08-18")

returns a dateTime representing 2023-08-18T00:00:00.000

toDateTimeOnly(now())

toDecimal(<integer>)

toDecimal(<decimal>)

toDecimal(<string>)

toDecimal(<boolean>)

Return a decimal.

toDecimal("4.0")

Returns 4.0.

If string expression: formats accepted are based on the ISO-8601 duration format PnDTnHnMn.nS with days considered to be exactly 24 hours.

The string starts with an optional sign, denoted by the ASCII negative or positive symbol. If negative, the whole period is negated. The ASCII letter “P” is next in upper or lower case. There are then four sections, each consisting of a number and a suffix. The sections have suffixes in ASCII of “D”, “H”, “M” and “S” for days, hours, minutes and seconds, accepted in upper or lower case. The suffixes must occur in order. The ASCII letter “T” must occur before the first occurrence, if any, of an hour, minute or second section. At least one of the four sections must be present, and if “T” is present there must be at least one section after the “T”. The number part of each section must consist of one or more ASCII digits. The number may be prefixed by the ASCII negative or positive symbol. The number of days, hours and minutes must parse to along. The number of seconds must parse to along with optional fraction. The decimal point may be either a dot or a comma. The fractional part may have from zero to 9 digits.

toDuration(<string>)

toDuration(<integer>)

Returns a duration.

toDuration("PT10H")

Returns duration of 10 hours.

toDuration("PT4S")

Returns duration of 4s.

toDuration(4000)

Returns duration of 4s.

toInteger(<dateTime>)

toInteger(<decimal>)

toInteger(<integer>)

toInteger(<string>)

toInteger(<boolean>)

Return an integer.

toInteger("4")

Returns 4.

toString(<dateTimeOnly>)

toString(<dateTime>)

toString(<duration>)

toString(<boolean>)

toString(<integer>)

toString(<decimal>)

Return a string.

toString(4)

Returns “4”.

toString(#{ExperiencePlatform.test_date.person.birthDate}))

Returns the string representation of the given dateOnly field (XDM Date field), for example “2023-08-18”.

toString(toDuration(1520))

Returns “PT1.52S”.

This section contains structured knowledge intended to support interpretation, retrieval, and question answering related to this topic.

For complete understanding, this information should be combined with the documentation on this page. Neither source is intended to stand alone; the page describes the feature, while this section provides additional context that helps disambiguate terminology, intent, applicability, and constraints.

• TL;DR: This page documents all conversion functions in AJO journey expressions, explaining how to transform values between types such as string, integer, decimal, boolean, date, datetime, and duration.

Intents:

• Convert a string or epoch integer to a timezone-aware datetime using toDateTime
• Convert a string or datetime to a timezone-less datetime using toDateTimeOnly
• Extract a date-only value (year-month-day) from a string or datetime using toDateOnly
• Cast a value to an integer, decimal, or boolean using toInteger, toDecimal, or toBool
• Serialize any value to its string representation using toString
• Convert a string or millisecond integer to a duration using toDuration

Glossary:

• dateTime: A datetime value that includes timezone offset information (product-specific)
• dateTimeOnly: A datetime value with no timezone information (product-specific)
• dateOnly: A date value representing year-month-day with no time component (product-specific)
• duration: A time period expressed in ISO-8601 format (e.g., PT10H) (product-specific)
• epoch milliseconds: Unix timestamp expressed in milliseconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z

Guardrails:

• The timezone argument in toDateTime must be a string constant — field references and dynamic expressions are not allowed
• String inputs to toDateTime and toDateTimeOnly must follow ISO-8601 format; malformed strings return null without an error
• toDateTime with an epoch integer expects milliseconds; multiply seconds-based timestamps by 1000 before passing
• toBool returns true only for the exact string "true"; strings like "1", "yes", or "TRUE" return false

Terminology:

• Canonical name: Conversion functions — Acronym: none — variants: type casting functions, type conversion functions
• Synonyms: “toDateTime” = “convert to datetime with timezone”; “toDateTimeOnly” = “convert to datetime without timezone”
• Do not confuse: “toDateTime” (timezone-aware) ≠ “toDateTimeOnly” (no timezone)
• Do not confuse: “toDateOnly” (date only, no time) ≠ “toDateTime” (date and time with timezone)

FAQ:

• Q: When should I use toDateTime versus toDateTimeOnly? — Use toDateTime when timezone information matters (e.g., scheduling or cross-region comparisons); use toDateTimeOnly when only the local date-time is relevant and timezone can be ignored.
• Q: Why does toBool("TRUE") return false? — toBool only recognizes the exact lowercase string "true"; all other string values including "TRUE" or "yes" return false.
• Q: How do I convert a Unix timestamp in seconds to a dateTime? — Multiply the seconds value by 1000 to get milliseconds, then pass it to toDateTime, e.g., toDateTime(myField * 1000).
• Q: Can the timezone in toDateTime be read from a profile attribute? — No, the timezone ID must be a string constant; field references and expressions are not supported.
• Q: What format does toDuration accept as a string? — ISO-8601 duration format, e.g., "PT10H" for 10 hours or "P1DT2H" for 1 day and 2 hours.