DocumentationJourney OptimizerJourney Optimizer Guide

Date functions date-functions

Last update: June 23, 2026
  • Applies to:
  • Journey Orchestration

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:

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.

NOTE
The functions on this page are available in journey expressions. Some functions like now() are not available in the personalization editor for email content. Learn more

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.

NOTE
This function is only available in journey expressions. For email personalization and other content, use getCurrentZonedDateTime() instead. Learn more
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.

nowWithDelta(1, "months", "Asia/Tokyo")

When evaluated on 2026-01-31, returns 2026-02-28T…; when evaluated on 2026-05-31, returns 2026-06-30T…

nowWithDelta() uses calendar-month arithmetic. If the target month has fewer days than the current day-of-month, the result is normalized to the last valid day of that month. The function does not roll over into the following month.

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.

AI Knowledge Reference

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 date and time functions available in AJO journey expressions, covering how to get the current time, check whether a date falls within a relative time window, and modify date/time components.

Intents:

  • Get the current datetime (with optional timezone) using now or nowWithDelta
  • Retrieve the current time as an epoch integer using currentTimeInMillis
  • Check if a datetime falls within the last N days, hours, months, or years using inLastDays, inLastHours, inLastMonths, inLastYears
  • Check if a datetime falls within the next N days, hours, months, or years using inNextDays, inNextHours, inNextMonths, inNextYears
  • Force a specific hour or day of the month on a datetime value using setHours or setDays
  • Convert a datetime to a different timezone while preserving the same instant using updateTimeZone

Glossary:

  • dateTime: A date-time value that includes timezone offset information (product-specific)
  • dateTimeOnly: A date-time value with no timezone information (product-specific)
  • epoch milliseconds: An integer representing the number of milliseconds elapsed since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z
  • delta: An integer offset (positive or negative) used with nowWithDelta to shift the current time by a number of years, months, days, hours, minutes, or seconds

Guardrails:

  • now() is only available in journey expressions; for email personalization use getCurrentZonedDateTime() instead
  • The timezone ID in nowWithDelta must be a string constant — field references and dynamic expressions are not supported
  • The timezone ID in updateTimeZone must be a string constant

Terminology:

  • Canonical name: Date functions — Acronym: none — variants: date-time functions, temporal functions
  • Synonyms: “now()” = “current datetime”; “currentTimeInMillis()” = “current epoch milliseconds”
  • Do not confuse: “inLastDays” (looks back in time) ≠ “inNextDays” (looks forward in time)
  • Do not confuse: “setHours” (replaces the hour component) ≠ “nowWithDelta” (offsets the current time)
  • Do not confuse: “updateTimeZone” (same instant, different timezone representation) ≠ “setHours” (changes the time value itself)

FAQ:

  • Q: Can I use now() in email personalization content? — No, now() is only available in journey expressions. Use getCurrentZonedDateTime() for email personalization.
  • Q: How do I check if an event happened in the last 24 hours? — Use inLastHours(@event{MyEvent.timestamp}, 24).
  • Q: How do I get the current time offset by 2 hours in the past? — Use nowWithDelta(-2, "hours").
  • Q: What does updateTimeZone do differently from setHours? — updateTimeZone keeps the same instant in time but expresses it in a different timezone, while setHours actually changes the hour component of the datetime value.
  • Q: Can the timezone parameter in nowWithDelta be a profile field? — No, the timezone ID must be a string constant; field references are not supported.
  • Q: What happens when nowWithDelta() is used with months and the current date is a month-end date? — The function uses calendar-month arithmetic and normalizes the result to the last valid day of the target month. For example, adding 1 month to January 31 returns February 28 (not March 3).
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