# Convert String to date format

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [December 16, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899 "2020-12-16T17:46:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![zaeemmasood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zaeemmasood/32/102383_2.png) [@zaeemmasood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zaeemmasood)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/21 "2020-12-17T21:12:11Z")

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Thanks. If I delete all previous indices, I will lose some precious old data.  
In that case would creating a new index be the only option?

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**Author:** ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/22 "2020-12-17T21:13:54Z")

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Or you can just save it as a new field like we did with `tempDate` and use that instead. But this will only work for new data coming in.

The question would be do you need all your old data to work with that old field?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zaeemmasood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zaeemmasood/32/102383_2.png) [@zaeemmasood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zaeemmasood)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/23 "2020-12-17T21:15:18Z")

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We would be good with new data coming in the expected format

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/24 "2020-12-17T21:17:32Z")

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Then problem solved. Just name that new field to something better. 🙂

If you do want to conserve the old data then it will involve reindex and some painless scripting.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zaeemmasood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zaeemmasood/32/102383_2.png) [@zaeemmasood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zaeemmasood)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/25 "2020-12-17T21:18:52Z")

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Thank you so much! We can perhaps name it as "timeCreated" instead of "createdTime" and go from there

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zaeemmasood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/zaeemmasood/32/102383_2.png) [@zaeemmasood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zaeemmasood)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/26 "2020-12-17T21:29:12Z")

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timeCreated now shows as "date" format:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/4/a/4a31849ab1d4980e961a9ec8e97aec68b9b63504.png)

Is it possible to hide "createdTime" entry from appearing in Kibana:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/d/7/d722d3ce65753bf141cc7a32efd35e06a8fca7af.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/convert-string-to-date-format/258899/27 "2021-01-14T21:29:16Z")

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