Documentation Journey Optimizer Journey Optimizer Guide

Date functions date-functions

Last update: Wed Nov 05 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Applies to:
Journey Orchestration

Topics:
Journeys

CREATED FOR:

Experienced
Developer

Date functions enable you to manipulate and work with date and time values within your journey expressions. These functions are essential for time-based conditions, scheduling, and temporal calculations in your customer journeys.

Use date functions when you need to:

Get the current time or date with specific timezone handling (now, nowWithDelta, currentTimeInMillis)
Check if a date falls within a specific time range (inLastDays, inLastHours, inLastMonths, inLastYears, inNextDays, inNextHours, inNextMonths, inNextYears)
Modify date and time components (setHours, setDays, updateTimeZone)
Perform time-based calculations and comparisons
Convert between different time formats and representations

Date functions provide precise control over temporal logic, allowing you to create time-sensitive journey paths and conditions that respond to specific timeframes and schedules.

currentTimeInMillis currentTimeInMillis

Returns current time in epoch milliseconds.

Syntax

currentTimeInMillis()

Parameters

This function uses no parameters.

Signatures and returned type

currentTimeInMillis()

Returns an integer.

Examples

currentTimeInMillis()

Returns “1544712617131”.

inLastDays inLastDays

Returns true if a given dateTime is between now and now - delta days.

Syntax

inLastDays(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inLastDays(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inLastDays(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inLastHours inLastHours

Returns true if the given date time is between now and now - delta hours.

Syntax

inLastHours(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inLastHours(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inLastHours(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inLastHours(@event{MyEvent.timestamp}, 4)

Returns true.

inLastMonths inLastMonths

Returns true if a given date or dateTime is between now and now - delta months.

Syntax

inLastMonths(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inLastMonths(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inLastMonths(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inLastYears inLastYears

Returns true if a given date or dateTime is between now and now - delta years.

Syntax

inLastYears(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inLastYears(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inLastYears(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inNextDays inNextDays

Returns true if a given date or dateTime is between now and now + delta days.

Syntax

inNextDays(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inNextDays(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inNextDays(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inNextHours inNextHours

Returns true if a given date or dateTime is between now and now + delta hours.

Syntax

inNextHours(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inNextHours(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inNextHours(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inNextMonths inNextMonths

Returns true if a given date or dateTime is between now and now + delta months.

Syntax

inNextMonths(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inNextMonths(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inNextMonths(toDateTime('2023-01-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

inNextYears inNextYears

Returns true if a given date or dateTime is between now and now + delta years.

Syntax

inNextYears(<dateTime>,<delta>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
delta	integer

Signatures and returned type

inNextYears(<dateTime>,<integer>)

Returns a boolean.

Examples

inNextYears(toDateTime('2021-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns true.

now now

Returns the current date in date time format. For more information on data types, refer to this page.

Syntax

now(<parameter>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2
Parameter	Description
string	Time zone identifier (optional)

Signatures and returned type

now()

now("<timeZone id>")

Returns a dateTime.

Examples

now()

Returns 2023-06-03T06:30Z.

toString(now())

Returns “2023-06-03T06:30Z”

now("Europe/Paris")

Returns 2023-06-03T08:30+02:00.

nowWithDelta nowWithDelta

Returns the current datetime including an offset. If a time zone id is specified, the time zone offset will be applied. For more information on data types, refer to this page.

Syntax

nowWithDelta(<parameters>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2
Parameter	Description
delta	positive or negative integer value
date part	years, months, days, hours, minutes or seconds as a string
time zone id	string representation of the time zone value. For more, see Data types. Time zone id must be a string constant. It cannot be a field reference nor an expression.

Signatures and returned type

nowWithDelta(<delta>,<date part>

nowWithDelta(<delta>,<date part>,"<timeZone id>")

Returns a dateTime.

Examples

nowWithDelta(-2, "hours")

nowWithDelta(-2, "hours", "Europe/Paris")

Returns a dateTime exactly 2 hours ago.

setHours setHours

Sets the hours of a date time or date time only. For example, if you want to wait until a certain hour tomorrow, you can force the hour.

Syntax

setHours(<parameter>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
date time without considering time zone	dateTimeOnly
hours	integer

Signatures and returned type

setHours(<dateTime>,<hours>)

Returns a datetime.

setHours(<dateTimeOnly>,<hours>)

Returns a datetime without considering time zone.

Examples

setHours(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 4)

Returns 2023-12-12T04:11:00Z.

setHours(nowWithDelta(1, "days"), 20)

Returns tomorrow at 8:XY PM, XY being the minutes at the moment of the current time evaluation. If the evaluation happens at 2:45 AM, the returned time will be 8:45 PM.

setDays setDays

Sets the day of a date time or date time only. For example, if you want to wait until a certain day of the month, you can force the day.

Syntax

setDays(<parameter>)

Parameters

table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2
Parameter	Type
date time	dateTime
date time without considering time zone	dateTimeOnly
days	integer

Signatures and returned type

setDays(<dateTime>,<days>)

Returns a datetime.

setDays(<dateTimeOnly>,<days>)

Returns a datetime without considering time zone.

Examples

setDays(toDateTime('2023-12-12T01:11:00Z'), 25)

Returns 2023-12-25T01:11:00Z.

setDays(toDateTimeOnly(@event{MyEvent.registrationDate}), 1)

updateTimeZone updateTimeZone

Returns a new date time, with a new time zone on the same instant.

Syntax

updateTimeZone(<parameters>)

Parameters

time zone id: string
dateTime

Signature and returned type

updateTimeZone(<dateTime>,<timeZone id>)

Returns a datetime.

Examples

updateTimeZone( toDateTime("2023-08-28T08:15:30.123-07:00"), "Europe/Paris"))

Returns 2023-08-28T17:15:30.123+02:00.

updateTimeZone(@event{MyExpEvent.timestamp}, "Australia/Sydney")

If the value of the timestamp field is 2021-11-16T16:55:12.939318+01:00, then the function returns 2021-11-17T02:55:12.942115+11:00.

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